Pyongyang, December 22 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK released the following statement on Friday:

The United States released a report on so-called "National Security Strategy" on December 18.

The "National Security Strategy" written and announced by the Trump administration is, indeed, a typical outcome of the Yankee-style arrogance seeking total subordination of the whole world to the interests of the U.S. It is also a criminal document which clearly reflects the gangster-like nature of Trump who likes to create trouble and fish in that troubled waters.

This has fully revealed that "America first policy" which the gang of Trump is crying out loudly about is nothing but the proclamation of aggression aimed at holding sway over the world according to its taste and at its own free will.

The U.S. administrations continue to change and hence the diplomatic and security policies also "change" this or that way. However, there is no change at all in the strategic goal of the U.S. to achieve hegemony over the world by means of force and particularly, the goal to stifle our country and turn the entire Korean peninsula into an outpost for seeking that hegemony remains unchanged.

Out of our will to safeguard the peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and put an end to the nuclear threat and blackmail and the hostile policy of the U.S., we held bilateral talks with the U.S. and various forms of multilateral talks such as the Four Party Talks and the Six Party Talks over the last two decades and during the course we had reached some agreements.

However, the previous U.S. administrations threw all the agreements reached with us into a garbage can like waste paper under the absurd assumption that the DPRK would "collapse" and indulged only in the attempts at onward nuclear threat and blackmail as well as sanctions and pressure designed to obliterate the DPRK, even branding it as a "rogue state", "axis of evil", "outpost of tyranny" and "target of preemptive nuclear strike".

We chose the road of possessing the nuclear weapons to defend our sovereignty and rights to existence and development in the face of ever increased hostile moves and nuclear threats and blackmail of the U.S. We are convinced that the only way to ensuring a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula is to have the deterrence that ensures a practical balance of force with the U.S.

The international society should keep vigilance against the maneuvers of the gang of Trump to invade and control the DPRK with force by igniting a nuclear war at any cost in the Korean peninsula and clearly see through the ulterior motive behind its repeated talk of dialogue, designed to cover up its evil intention and mock the world.

The gang of Trump likes to pose itself as if its country is a world superpower. However, the U.S. is nothing but a corpse going to the grave. -0-