DHAKA: North Korea said on Sunday it ‘will not rule out’ a new nuclear test as it defended its recent mid-range missile launch which triggered widespread international condemnation.

‘(We) will not rule out a new form of a nuclear test aimed at strengthening our nuclear deterrence,’ Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the North’s state-run KCNA news agency.

The Straits Times publishes this report.

BDST: 1453 HRS, MAR 30, 2014