Pyongyang, April 21 (KCNA) -- Choe Son Hui, foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea released a press statement on April 21.

It reads:

I clarify the following stand as regards the fact that G7 foreign ministers made public a "joint statement" full of extremely interventionist and improper contents, malignantly pulling up the DPRK over the legitimate exercise of its sovereignty.

G7 has neither authority nor qualification to say this or that about the DPRK's exercise of its sovereignty and its national status.

The measures the DPRK has so far taken to bolster up its military capabilities for self-defence constitute a just exercise of its sovereignty to deter threat from the unstable security environment caused by the reckless and provocative military maneuvers of the U.S. and its allies, defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and control and manage the situation on the Korean peninsula in a stable way.

We will continue to take action measures based on all legal rights granted to a sovereign state until the military threat posed by the U.S. and its allied forces hostile toward us is completely removed and the hostile surrounding environment harassing the independent existence and development of our country is put to a definite end.

The DPRK's position as a nuclear weapons state is not a thing granted or recognized by anyone but was established along with the existence of the actual nuclear deterrence and fixed by the law on the state nuclear force policy adopted to the unanimous will of all the Korean people.

G7 urges us to "completely and irreversibly dismantle our nukes", saying that the DPRK cannot have the status of a nuclear weapons state according to the NPT. This is just the most absurd and illegal interference in the internal affairs of the DPRK to force it into flouting its sacred state law.

Explicitly speaking, it is the essence of the DPRK's access to nuclear weapons that it was compelled to have access to nukes literally to defend itself from the U.S. threat, not to be recognized by others.

The position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state will remain as an undeniable and stark reality - no matter that the U.S. and the West would not recognize it for a hundred or a thousand years.

It is anachronistic to think that the right to and capability for nuclear strike is exclusive to Washington.

We will never seek any recognition and approval from anyone as we are satisfied with our access to the strength for a tit-for-tat strike against the U.S. nuclear threat.

The U.S. and the West have no right to say this or that about the DPRK's position as a nuclear weapons state, and it will never change no matter what they say.

What should change now is not the DPRK but the U.S., and the U.S. should bear in mind that its security can be guaranteed only when it completely roots out its hostile policy toward the DPRK.

The position of the DPRK as a world-class nuclear power is final and irreversible.

G7, a closed group of a handful of egoistic countries, does not represent the just international community but serves as a political tool for ensuring the U.S. hegemony.

We make it clear that we don't have any interest in what G7 does but if it shows any behavioral attempt to infringe upon the sovereignty and fundamental interests of the DPRK, it will be completely deterred by strong counteraction.

Taking this opportunity, I courteously remind the G7 foreign ministers once again that the DPRK is free from any NPT obligations as it legally withdrew from the treaty 20 years ago in accordance with the withdrawal procedures specified in Article 10 of NPT. -0-