Pyongyang, March 7 (KCNA) -- Kim Yo Jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, issued the following press statement on Tuesday:

One of south Korean puppet media on March 6 carried an unspecific report that the commander of the U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific said something on February 24 to the effect that if we fired ICBMs into the Pacific, they would immediately shoot them down.

I don't know if he really made such improper words to speak for the stand of the U.S. military or if it was just the puppet media's trite wordplay, but whether it is true or not and whatever the reason I have something to clearly warn first.

The Pacific Ocean does not belong to the dominium of the U.S. or Japan.

It will be very interesting to see how the U.S., whose forces frequently conduct the test-launches of strategic weapons in the Pacific every year as if the ocean were its yard, will respond if a third country attempts to intercept them under the excuse of counteraction.

Had he been mindful that a specific approach must be taken to cope with such a terrible situation, he could have realized how stupendous, absurd and crazy remarks he made.

The commander of the U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific reportedly described the "south Korea-U.S. map exercise for operating extended deterrence means" as an effective and "very meaningful" one that gave a message to the DPRK and another country. We, too, have a message we'd like to send to the U.S.

It will be regarded as a clear declaration of war against the DPRK, in case such military response as interception takes place against our tests of strategic weapons that are conducted without being detrimental to the security of neighboring countries in the open waters and air which do not belong to the U.S. jurisdiction.

We also remind them that our military code of conduct under such situation has been set.

The demonstrative military moves and all sorts of rhetoric by the U.S. and south Korea, which have recently become too extreme to be overlooked, undoubtedly provide the DPRK with conditions of being forced to definitely counteract through something.

As already clarified, we keep our eyes on the restless military moves by the U.S. forces and the south Korean puppet military and are always on standby to take appropriate, quick and overwhelming action at any time according to our judgment.

The U.S. and south Korea must refrain from making remarks and behavior that aggravate the situation any longer. -0-