North Korea defends ICBM launch in rare U.N. Security Council appearance

Kim Song, North Korean envoy to the United Nations, addressed the Security Council Thursday and defended the regime’s latest ICBM launch. File Photo by Manuel Elà­as/UN July 14 (UPI) — In a rare appearance before the U.N. Security Council, a North Korean envoy defended the regime’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch, claiming it was an exercise in self-defense and blaming the United States and its allies for provoking tensions on the Peninsula. The Security Council convened an emergency meeting Thursday, one day after North Korea test-fired its Hwasong-18 ICBM, a new solid-fuel missile that analysts have said is more maneuverable…