North Korea has slammed the UN Security Council for holding an emergency meeting on its recent ballistic missile launch. Pyongyang claims the launch was a part of regular development research for national defense, and says the Security Council branding it illegal is intolerable.

The security council members met on Thursday to discuss their response to the launch. Japan and Western countries condemned it as a violation of council resolutions.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency carried a statement from a foreign ministry spokesperson on Sunday. It says the country will safeguard its sovereign right "through stronger and more obvious action."

The statement also claims that the US and South Korea are driving the Korean Peninsula and the surrounding area to the brink of conflict.