N Korea vows response to US arms sales

SEOUL:

North Korea condemned on Thursday US plans to supply Seoul with tactical missiles and fund human rights monitoring projects, vowing a "powerful response" to what Pyongyang described as Washington's hostility towards it.

The US Department of State said on Friday it had approved the possible sale of AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II missiles and related equipment to South Korea at an estimated total cost of $125 million.

Pyongyang's foreign ministry spokesperson, in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, said that "we cannot overlook the adverse effect of the US sale of its weapons to the ROK on the regional security environment", referring to South Korea.

The statement also criticised Washington's plans to provide millions of dollars for programmes related to human rights and the flow of information into North Korea.

The Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor announced last week an open competition for organisations to document rights abuses in North Korea to "challenge the DPRK's information monopoly", it said, referring to Pyongyang.