North Korea protests to US over Minuteman III missile test

By Hyunsu Yim

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea vowed to continue military action while criticizing the United States over a recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test, state media KCNA said on Friday.

"The DPRK will as ever continue its military action to bolster up the deterrence and ensure the strategic security in the Korean peninsula and the region," said an article by a military commentator carried by KCNA without specifying the author's name.

DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The report also criticized the test-firing of a nuclear-capable Minuteman III missile at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Wednesday, which the U.S. Air Force said was blown up after an anomaly was detected.

A South Korean delegation visited the base and observed the ICBM launch in the first such a visit since 2016, according to the country's defence ministry.

The article also criticized military moves by the U.S. and South Korea including the deployment of what it described as U.S. nuclear strategic bombers in South Korea.

South Korea held a joint aerial exercise with the U.S. and Japan near the Korean peninsula last month, involving a U.S. B-52 strategic bomber as well as fighter jets of the three nations.

The U.S. and South Korea also held major air exercises involving 130 warplanes from both countries to simulate 24-hour wartime operations last month.

Seoul and Washington say these drills are aimed at maintaining combat readiness to respond to Pyongyang's provocations.

North Korea has routinely denounced joint military exercises by Seoul and Washington as rehearsals for war.

(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim)