Kim Yo Jong, deputy department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, issued the following statement "Evil doer's audacity can never work on us" on April 24:

The regional situation has been plunged deeper into a dangerous vortex due to the US-led hostile forces' ceaseless military moves.

The US, as ever, doesn't miss the chance for making stereotyped far-fetched assertion with evil doer's audacity terming our activities pertaining to our right to self-defence a "violation of UNSC resolution" and a "grave threat to regional and international peace and security".

The world should understand the issue correctly.

The US, together with Japan and the puppet ROK, are ceaselessly staging military exercises under various codenames against the DPRK almost every week. Witnessing such muscle-flexing alone, one can easily understand the reason why tensions are soaring in the region like a kindled detonating fuse.

The US, which kicked off its madcap war drumbeats in the new year through a "joint combat firing drill" with the gangsters of the ROK puppet army on January 4, has frantically staged war drills under various codenames such as "drill of neutralizing CBR weapons storage facilities", "allied cyber training" and "joint special operation drill".

From January 15 the US, together with Japan and the puppet ROK, conducted a "joint maritime drill" with the involvement of its nuclear carrier Carl Vinson for four days in the waters off Jeju Island.

On the first day of the drill, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff of the ROK puppet army appeared on the nuclear carrier to make a false show of power, saying, "ROK-US-Japan maritime drills have made a core contribution to deterring and coping with the ever-escalating nuclear and missile threats from the north."

In February the US, together with the gangsters of the ROK puppet army, were hell-bent on such drills as "joint marine corps drill", "winter joint drill", "joint air drill" and "commanding communication drill". Not content with this, it staged 48 rounds of extremely offensive and provocative war exercises day and night in March, including "joint air strike drill", "joint tactical live-firing drill", "joint drill for air-to-air firing and air-to-ground bombing", "Ssangmae joint air drill" and various outdoor manoeuvring drills, under the signboard of Freedom Shield, a large-scale joint military exercise.

In April, too, the US, Japan and the puppet ROK have ceaselessly staged reckless military drills with the involvement of US nuclear strategic assets.

On April 2, a tripartite air drill involving US nuclear strategic bomber B-52H was staged. A few days later, a naval drill was kicked off with the US nuclear carrier Theodore Roosevelt involved.

A "joint airborne infiltration drill" was staged on April 18. Furthermore, a "combined joint formation drill", which was launched on April 12 with more than 100 warplanes involved, will last till April 26.

In August last year, the summit meeting of the US, Japan and the puppet ROK, held at Camp David in a suburb of Washington, specified, planned and formulated all these nuclear war provocations against the DPRK and decided to stage tripartite military drills annually, and all the above-said drills that have accordingly been staged are "rehearsals" designed to put the US nuclear war scenario against the DPRK into practice.

Entering this year, the US has staged more than 80 rounds of military drills with its lackeys and those individually staged by the ROK puppets total more than 60. This evidently shows who the arch criminals straining the regional situation are.

Nonetheless, the US and its stooges are behaving like a guilty party filing the suit first.

Who are the real criminals disturbing peace and stability?

We will continue to build up our overwhelming and most powerful military capabilities to defend our sovereignty and security and regional peace.

No one can break our determination.

If the US persists in its moves to threaten the security of the DPRK, boasting of its strength by rallying its stooges, the security of the US and its allies will be exposed to greater danger.

The US should stop fostering the reckless bravery of its top-class minion ROK.

Of course, a scared dog barks louder, but the bosses of the ROK puppet military gangsters have gone too far in their barks recently.

If they attempt armed counteraction against the DPRK counting on their master, they will be immediately annihilated.