The Institute for Disarmament and Peace of the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea made public the following press release titled "The US Scheme to Build a New Missile Defense System Is a New 'Star Wars' Plan Seriously Destroying the Global Security Balance" on February 2:

The new US administration's hegemonic attempt to maintain its military supremacy and stifle independent and sovereign states through reckless arms buildup has been clearly manifested from the first day of its office.

A typical example is that the United States made public shortly ago a plan to further expand the missile defense system, under the signboard of ensuring the security of the mainland and its allies from the ever-increasing "strategic threats" of its so-called rivals.

The US new missile defense system plan sets a target for aggression to put spurs to the development and deployment of the next-generation missile defense network and space-based missile interception system capable of detecting and intercepting various kinds of missiles at the ascending stage and further strengthen the regional missile defense system in collusion with its allies.

The new missile defense system idea, suggestive of the departed soul of the dangerous "Star Wars" scenario mapped out by the United States in the Cold War era, has a danger as it justifies arms buildup under the pretext of coping with "threats" from its rivals, far from being feasible.

In the 1980s, the United States invented a "Strategic Defense Initiative" under the pretext of coping with the nuclear threat of the former Soviet Union, driving the whole world into a crucible of nuclear arms race. In 2002 it unilaterally withdrew from the ABM treaty under the pretext of "security of the mainland" and made frantic efforts to build a missile defense system targeting the independent and sovereign states including the DPRK.

Afterwards, the United States has spent an astronomical amount of money for the development of next-generation interceptor missiles and ground-based intermediate-stage interceptor missiles. It deployed various missile defense systems in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region and has sought a sinister intention to merge them into operation.

The present US administration's attempt to modernize the missile defense system is also aimed to provide conditions for launching preemptive nuclear attack on the rivals without any worry about retaliatory attack by them and to turn outer space, a common wealth of the whole mankind, into a war theatre and militarize it and thus realize the US military hegemony on a global scale.

The present US administration has called for further strengthening the regional missile defense system with the allies, talking about the threat of attack by nuclear-armed rivals. This indicates that the US moves for modernizing the missile defense system can be further intensified in the Asia-Pacific region where nuclear powers are concentrated.

It is as clear as noonday that the United States will get more pronounced in its moves to accelerate the development of hypersonic interceptor missiles being pushed forward with its allies including Japan and deploy more ultra-modern military hardware like THAAD in various regions including the Republic of Korea. This will inevitably touch off the security concerns of the regional countries.

The evermore-worsening global security environment urgently requires the DPRK to steadily develop its self-defensive capabilities with nuclear deterrent as a pivot capable of reliably defending the security and development rights of the state to cope with the ever-increasing US attempt to hold military hegemony.

The DPRK will as ever counter the ever-increasing military threat of the hostile forces with the bolstering of military muscle free from limitations and defend global peace and build a more stable regional security environment by dint of the powerful self-defensive strength.