On August 22, the Chief of the Foreign News Section of the Department of Press and Information, DPRK Foreign Ministry, issued a press statement: "Maintaining a steady military balance is a prerequisite for peace and stability".

The full text reads as follows:

With the dogged staging of large-scale U.S.-ROK military exercises - Ulji Freedom Shield - the U.S. Department of State approved the sale of 36 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and their components to the ROK.

Claiming on one hand that the sale would improve the ROK’s military capabilities, the U.S. military clarified a contradictory stand that the above would not change the fundamental military balance in the region.

Media and experts are focusing on the future impact on the security situation in the Korean peninsula, estimating that if the sale is completed, new attack helicopters will be deployed in the ROK and at the same time the performance of Apache helicopters, purchased from the U.S. and deployed for operation in 2017, will also be improved.

We strongly oppose and denounce the arms build-up pursued by the U.S. and its vassal forces. That will pose a grave danger to the security environment in the region by escalating military tension, and we hereby sound a serious warning about the entailing consequences.

Arms buildup of one side levelling at the other will have an impact, more or less, on the military and political situation in the region.

Moreover, when the politico-military tension on the Korean peninsula is increasing with the start of large-scale U.S.- ROK joint military exercises, the U.S. announcement of sale of offensive weapons to the ROK cannot be construed otherwise than a rash provocative act, a deliberate increasing of security instability in the region.

American arms sale is getting ever more vibrant and active in Japan, the ROK and other American allies in the Asia-Pacific region, which constitutes a grave challenge to the regional security that we cannot afford to overlook.

Last year, too, the U.S. adopted a decision to deliver various types of ultra-modern lethal war equipment worth of astronomical amount of money including 25 F-35 stealth fighters, 36 SM-6 fleet-to-air interceptor missiles and 42 AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and went on to conclude a "security of supply arrangement" with the ROK military aimed at prompt supply of military goods.

It also offered 6 latest P-8A Poseidon sea-patrol planes to the ROK in June this year and is going to make the first supply of 12 new-type MH-60R sea operational helicopters in December to be handed over to the latter.

Besides, it has significantly relaxed its control on the export of military technology and arms to the UK and Australia recently and is getting more undisguised in the sale of weapons to its allies in the Asia-Pacific region including Japan and Taiwan.

The security crises in different parts of the world clearly prove that the U.S. offer of lethal weapons is the key factor in escalating military confrontation and contradiction in the region, disturbing the regional military balance and thus further increasing the risk of a new conflict.

The prevailing situation presents us with a pressing need for maintaining a steady military balance in the region by enhancing our defence capabilities in every way in direct proportion to the possible security challenge and threats from the U.S. arms sale.

To exercise zero tolerance and strongly counter the power imbalance being forced upon us by the U.S. and its followers is a prerequisite for defending sovereign interests of the country and ensuring the peace and stability of the region.

The more intent the U.S. gets on the provision of war hardware and lethal equipment to its allies in the region, the stronger the strategic deterrence of the DPRK will be so as to protect the security and interests of the country and the peace of the region.

The DPRK will determinedly and undauntedly undertake military activities essential for self-defence and for control and management of the possible military imbalance and instability from the ever-more reckless military moves and delivery of lethal equipment by the hostile forces.