Press Statement of Spokesperson for DPRK Foreign Ministry

Pyongyang, September 19 (KCNA) -- A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea released the following press statement on Friday:

The hostile forces cooked up and made public a "resolution" against the DPRK at the 70th Session of the IAEA General Conference on Sept. 17.

In the "resolution", they picked quarrel with the DPRK's legitimate and self-defensive exercise of sovereignty, arguing that the DPRK cannot have nuclear weapons under the NPT, they express serious concern over the DPRK's sustainable nuclear activities, and all nuclear weapons and nuclear programs should be abandoned in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

The DPRK has not been a member of the NPT and the IAEA from long ago and, therefore, it is illegal and the height of impudence to talk about the position of our state and its efforts to bolster up the defence capabilities.

The DPRK's position as a nuclear weapons state does not need the recognition of the U.S., the West and the IAEA. It is guaranteed by the actual nuclear deterrent and irreversibly and permanently fixed by the supreme law of the state.

Pitifully, the "resolution" cooked up by the U.S. and the West has no effect on the DPRK's position as a nuclear weapons state.

No matter how desperately the hostile forces may try to deny our constitutional position in and around the IAEA, the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state, which is permanently and absolutely settled by the law, is irreversible.

It is the DPRK's invariable line of national defence to more offensively implement its strategic and long-term plans for building reliable self-defensive deterrent to cope with the ever-worsening international security environment.

As a responsible nuclear weapons state, the DPRK will as ever firmly defend the sovereignty and fundamental interests of the state and thoroughly guarantee peace and security in the region and the rest of the world by deterring all challenges and threats from outside by overwhelming force. -0-