North Korea’s foreign ministry in a statement Wednesday issued a stern defense of the country’s surprise missile test over the weekend, warning unnamed “forces” against describing it as provocative or destabilizing.

The comments came in a response given by a spokesperson for the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to a question from a journalist from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

They are the DPRK’s first public statements since characterizing the surprise Saturday weapons test as a readiness drill in state media the following day – a test which many experts have argued represented Pyongyang’s first missile test