North Korea has hailed the strength of its military after it launched a salvo of ballistic missiles in a show of firepower that earned international criticism.
''Thanks to the army-first policy of our party, our defence industry ... laid a firm foundation to produce any kind of [weapons] needed for modern warfare freely,'' the ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said in a commentary yesterday.
The army-first policy of the hardline communist country has given the military the capacity to hit enemies with a ''merciless'' strike, it added.
The comments from North Korea came a day after it test-fired seven ballistic missiles in an act of defiance apparently timed for the United States Independence Day holiday.
The launches further fuelled regional tensions after North Korea's nuclear test in May.
Kim Yong-Hyun of Seoul's Dongguk University said the launches were designed to demonstrate the country's improved missile capacity.
''The weekend sabre-rattling, apparently designed to demonstrate the country's improved missile capacity and military firepower, produced its intended effect,'' Professor Kim said.
It also sent a strong warning to the United States that North Korean missiles could pose a serious challenge to regional peace, he said.
Washington's relatively mild reaction showed US officials do not want ''a catastrophic confrontation with North Korea or heightened regional tensions,'' he added.
China has called for calm after the seven North Korean missile launches.
In an online statement yesterday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, ''China ... hopes that all sides will maintain calm and restraint, and jointly safeguard peace and stability in the region''.
North Korea is banned from firing ballistic missiles under UN resolutions.
US and South Korean officials believe that the ailing leader, Kim Jong-Il, 67, is staging a show of strength to bolster his authority as he tries to put in place a succession plan involving his youngest son, Kim Jong-Un.
China, as North Korea's main ally, has long favoured cautious diplomacy with its neighbour.
But it supported a United Nations resolution, adopted in response to North Korea's nuclear test in May, calling for beefed up inspections of air, sea and land shipments going to and from North Korea, and an expanded arms embargo.
Meanwhile, Japan is considering introducing a new type of missile defence system to counter airborne attacks, notably from North Korea, a local newspaper says.
Japan has two defence against airborne attacks, the warship-installed Standard Missile 3 and Patriot Advanced Capability 3, a surface-to-air missile.
Japan plans to complete the shield by early 2011, deploying the PAC-3 missiles at 11 bases and setting up SM-3 missiles on several of tis warships.
But the two systems still will not be enough to cover the nation's territory completely, the Mainichi newspaper said yesterday.
The Japanese Defence Ministry is considering introducing another surface-to-air missile, the US-developed Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system, in addition to the SM-3 and PAC-3, the newspaper said.
While the PAC-3 has a range of about 20km, a THAAD interceptor can cover more than 100km, making it possible to defend the entire nation if deployed at three to four bases.
AFP
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