N Korea hits Biden’s ‘provocation’, threatens more arms build-up

US president has condemned as UN violation Pyongyang’s latest launch of two weapons from its east coast into the Sea of Japan.

North Korea threatened a further military build-up on Saturday in response to Joe Biden’s condemnation of this week’s missile launches, a weapons test that marked Pyongyang’s first substantive provocation since the US president took office. The nuclear-armed North has a long history of using weapons tests to ramp up tensions, in a carefully calibrated process to try to forward its objectives. Pyongyang had been biding its time since the new administration took office in Washington, not even officially acknowledging its existence until last week.