Ri Pyong Chol, Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, clarified the following stand for strengthening the self-defensive power through the Korean Central News Agency as regards the further aggravated military tension in the Korean peninsula and the region created owing to the military moves of the United States and south Korea against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea whose aggressive nature gets reckless day by day.

At present the US forces and south Korean puppet army are staging "combined joint firepower annihilation drill" largest ever in scale for the first time after six years in Phochon area, Kyonggi Province of south Korea, adjacent to the military demarcation line.

As its name shows, the drill which is to be held in succession until the middle of next month with an aim to "annihilate" warring opponent will bring together all kinds of offensive hardware of the US troops in south Korea and south Korean puppet army.

Along with it ,the United States schemes to stage "PSI" drill which made the naval interception and blockade against the sovereign state a fait accompli by rallying vassal forces including Japan, Australia as well as south Korea under the pretext of "preventing proliferation of mass destruction weapons" from the end of May.

A strategic nuclear submarine of the US navy will be soon deployed in south Korean region for the first time in 40 years according to the announcement of "Washington Declaration" in late April which stipulated the plan of the United States and south Korea for using nuclear weapon against our state.

What is not to be overlooked is that recently the US army is conducting hostile aerial reconnaissance activities on the Korean peninsula and neighbouring region on an unprecedented level by mobilizing all kinds of aerial reconnaissance means deployed in the Asia-Pacific operational combat zone.

The strategic reconnaissance planes of the US Air Force "RC-135S" which have been mobilized for watching eastern region of the DPRK outside of the exclusive economic water zone of the East Sea of Korea in the past are hurled into the sky of the West Sea of Korea in May and are conducting watching and reconnaissance of strategic depth of our territory every day. All sorts of aerial reconnaissance means including drones as well as "U-2" high altitude strategic reconnaissance plane and reconnaissance planes "MQ-9" and "RQ-4B" flew near the sky of sea frontier of the West Sea of Korea not far from the military demarcation line and commit reconnaissance acts over our side, in particular our western area,in a very provocative and dangerous way.

The operational radius and watching sphere of the aerial reconnaissance assets of the US Air Force deployed in the area around the Korean peninsula comprise the depths of the neighbouring countries and capital area, to say nothing of the western area of the DPRK including the capital Pyongyang, posing serious threat to the DPRK and neighbouring states.

Such aerial reconnaissance acts extremely aggravating military tension of the region clearly show the wicked plot of the US-led allied armies to put into practice their plan for preemptive military action against our state on the basis of overwhelming espionage information forces in case of emergency and vividly prove the aggressive military action preparedness of the enemy against the DPRK.

This year, the deployment of the US nuclear strategic offensive means in the Korean peninsula was raised to a level of regular deployment with the visit of the US Secretary of Defence to south Korea as an occasion, the US-south Korea joint exercises were expanded to the maximum in history in their scale and periods and the aerial reconnaissance acts are conducted on an unprecedented level. These are the epitome showing the seriousness of thepresent reality of security around the Korean peninsula and represent the explosive potentiality which can be led to a very dangerous aftermath and adverse current to the situation of the region.

The serious security environment in the region created by the dangerous military moves of the United States and its vassal forces demand us secure reliable reconnaissance information means capable of grasping the enemy's attempts of military action in real time as the most urgent matter.

That's why the Eighth Congress of the WPK and the six plenary meetings of the Party Central Committee held afterwards set forth an urgent task facing our armed forces and ordered it to take legitimate self-defensive measures.

Our military reconnaissance satellite No. 1 to be launched soon in coming June and diverse reconnaissance means expected to be newly tested are really indispensable to tracking, watching and discerning in real time and controlling in advance and coping with the dangerous military actions of the United States and its vassal forces that are openly revealing their reckless ambition for aggression with the passage of time and to strengthening the military preparedness of the armed forces of the DPRK.

Under the present situation which was created due to the reckless military moves of the United States and south Korea, we constantly feel the need to expand the reconnaissance information means and update different kinds of defensive and offensive weapons and have the timetable for implementing the development plans.

We will examine the threats that we face at present and future threats in an all-round way and put the activities for strengthening the comprehensive and practical war deterrence into action with more thorough-going practice.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea will perform its important mission to reliably defend the sovereignty and security of the state with responsibility.