A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK on Saturday released the following press statement titled "It is the sovereign right of the DPRK to firmly defend the state’s sovereignty, security and interests from hostile forces’ encroachment":

As already clarified, the DPRK’s satellite launch is an essential process in building up the country’s defence capability and an important step conducive to improving the security environment on the Korean peninsula as an occasion of bringing a new phase in the military activities of the armed forces of the DPRK to firmly defend its security.

Nevertheless, the U.S. has perpetrated acts of encroaching upon sovereignty and hostile acts of taking sanctions against the DPRK by rallying its followers such as Japan, the Republic of Korea and Australia, while unreasonably pulling up the DPRK over its exercise of just and legitimate sovereignty.

Explicitly speaking, the object of sanctions is not the DPRK which has exercised its deserved sovereign right but the U.S. and its servants keen to deprive sovereign states of their legitimate rights, wantonly violating regulations of the international law including the UN Charter.

The unilateral and illegal sanctions of the U.S. seriously violating the UN Charter with sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs and respect for the right to self-determination as its core and other principles of international law are the main factors undermining the international order based on equity and multilateralism.

The illegal sanctions racket of the U.S. and its followers is nothing but a "sedative" to calm down the growing uneasiness and impatience over the ever-declining U.S.-led hegemonic order, and can not have any effective effect on the DPRK’s exercise of sovereign right at present and in the future.

In the present world where the U.S. is precisely being regarded as injustice and evil, the accusations and sanctions of the U.S. only show a proof of the justness of the line chosen by the DPRK and an expression of the strong force of our state.

The U.S. should respect the sovereign decision of the DPRK to freely exercise the right to space development any UN member nations can enjoy, neither interfere in nor obstruct it, and only doing so is a correct choice capable of removing even a part of the present external crisis facing the U.S.

In order to defend the sovereignty and interests of the state from the hostile forces’ illegal encroachment on the sovereignty of our state, ensure peace and security and protect the right and interests of its citizens, the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK declares that it will apply countermeasures to individuals, institutions and organizations of the U.S. and its vassal forces involved in the drawing and execution of the sanction policy toward the DPRK, according to the Law of the DPRK on Countermeasures in coordination with its relevant institutions.

No matter what others may say, the DPRK will proudly and perfectly exercise its sovereign right including satellite launch and make every possible effort to defend the sovereignty, security and interests of the state and ensure peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and the region from all threats and obstructions from outside.

Rodong Sinmun