Press Statement of Chief of External Policy Office

of DPRK Foreign Ministry

Pyongyang, January 17 (KCNA) -- The chief of the External Policy Office of the
Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Friday issued the
following press statement "We will contain the planned hostile military provocations
and control the unstable regional situation with more thorough exercise of the right to
self-defence":
From the outset of the year the U.S. and its satellites are getting evermore
undisguised in their military provocations to pose a grave challenge to the security
environment of the DPRK.
On January 6 and 9, the U.S. Air Force strategic reconnaissance planes flew over
the Korean peninsula several times to perpetrate aerial espionage against the
DPRK's strategic depth. On January 10, the 4th U.S.-ROK "nuclear consultative
group" meeting was held in Washington to simulate a nuclear war drill on the Korean
peninsula and an increase in the visibility of deploying U.S. strategic assets.
On Jan. 15, B-1B strategic bombers of the U.S. Air Force were deployed in the sky
over the open sea near the Korean peninsula to conduct a U.S.-Japan-ROK joint air
drill. On the same day, the U.S. and ROK air forces staged the first air live-shell firing
drill for this year.
The U.S. political and military provocations, witnessed day after day in the Korean
peninsula where huge armed forces of warring countries are on high alert and the
possibility of permanent military conflict is wandering, are the direct root cause of
inciting the danger of armed conflict and disturbing the regional stability.
The U.S., which spent the end of last year through the largest-ever war drills,
entered the new year with military provocations involving its satellite countries. This
goes to prove that it is the U.S. which has brought instability to the region, and
heralds this year's development of the military and political situation in the Korean
peninsula with a dangerous tendency.
The DPRK Foreign Ministry expresses serious concern over the provocations of the
U.S. and its allies that add another factor of instability to the very serious tension in
the Korean peninsula, and clarifies once again that the DPRK's exercise of the right
to self-defence to defend the sovereign rights and security interests of the state will
be conducted more intensively.

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The DPRK's access to a more overwhelming war deterrent aimed at countering the
U.S.-led hostile states' military threat is an essential requirement for maintaining the
balance of forces on the Korean peninsula and ensuring the security of the regional
situation.
As already clarified, the DPRK will strongly deter any military provocation planned by
the hostile forces and firmly defend the security interests of the state and the
regional peace and stability by exercising more thoroughly and perfectly the right to
self-defence, pursuant to its toughest counteraction strategy. -0-