Pyongyang, January 1 (KCNA) -- Respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un in his New Year Address said that the year 2017 was a year of heroic struggle and great victory, a year when the DPRK set up an indestructible milestone in the history of building a powerful socialist country with the spirit of self-reliance and self-development as the dynamic force.

He referred to the successes achieved last year.

An outstanding success was the accomplishment of the great, historic cause of perfecting the national nuclear forces.

By also conducting tests of various means of nuclear delivery and super-intense thermonuclear weapon, we attained our general orientation and strategic goal with success, and our Republic has at last come to possess a powerful and reliable war deterrent, which no force and nothing can reverse.

He said:

In no way would the United States dare to ignite a war against me and our country.

The whole of its mainland is within the range of our nuclear strike and the nuclear button is on my office desk all the time; the United States needs to be clearly aware that this is not merely a threat but a reality.

Last year we also made notable headway in carrying out the five-year strategy for national economic development.

An oxygen-blast furnace of our own style was built at the Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex to maintain regular production of pig iron by relying on anthracite.

Prospects were opened up for consolidating the independent foundations of the chemical industry and attaining the five-year strategy's goal for the output of chemical products.

Numerous light-industry factories provided a guarantee for making the range of consumer goods varied and improving their quality.

The machine-building industry laid solid foundations for speeding up the Juche orientation and modernization of the national economy and the comprehensive mechanization of the rural economy.

The agricultural sector increased the ranks of high-yield farms and workteams and reaped an unusually rich fruit harvest in spite of unfavourable climatic conditions.

Our service personnel and people built magnificent Ryomyong Street and the large-scale livestock farming base in the Sepho area, and completed the task for the first stage of the forest restoration campaign.

New model units emerged one after another, and a large number of factories and enterprises fulfilled their quotas of the yearly national economic plan ahead of schedule and surpassed their peak-year levels.

Successes were also made on the scientific and cultural fronts.

Scientists and technicians resolved scientific and technological problems arising in the building of a powerful socialist country and completed research projects in the cutting-edge field, thereby giving stimulus to economic development and the improvement of the people's living standards.

The socialist education system was further improved and the educational environment upgraded, while medical service conditions were bettered.

An example of artistic performance activities was created and our sportspeople won victories in different international competitions.

Kim Jong Un stressed that all the successes made last year are the triumph of the Juche-oriented revolutionary line of the Workers' Party of Korea and a precious fruition of the heroic struggle of the service personnel and people who are firmly rallied behind the Party. -0-