The chief of the Information Office of the DPRK Ministry of National Defence on February 22 issued the following press statement “We will counter the enemies' strategic threat with our strategic means”:

Since the emergence of the Trump administration, the US and its vassal forces are getting evermore pronounced in their military provocations threatening the security environment of the DPRK.

On February 20, the US staged a provocative joint air drill with the ROK by dispatching B-1B strategic bomber into the sky over the Korean peninsula. On February 19, it test-fired the ICBM Minuteman 3 at the Vandenberg Space Force Base towards a target in the Pacific.

Such military muscle-flexing of the US clearly shows the invariable hegemonic ambition of the present US administration to gain an overwhelming edge of strength through the maintenance and updating of its military capabilities for mounting a nuclear attack on any country and region of the world without prior warning.

The US provocative military moves in the vicinity of the DPRK in less than two months this year are a clear answer to where the real threat increasing the concerns over global peace and security comes from.

Since February 3, the US military has waged a provocative joint live firing drill with the ROK military gangsters, mobilizing thousands of troops and 150-odd pieces of military hardware of various missions, in the area just 30 km away from the southern border of the DPRK.

The US deployed a nuclear submarine in the Pusan operation base from February 10 to 15, and on February 13 in the ROK Bombardier BD-700 Global Express, a reconnaissance plane of a new generation which underwent a test flight last year. It has also conducted air espionages on the DPRK's areas since February 15 with the mobilization of various tactical and strategic reconnaissance planes including P-8A maritime patrol aircraft and RC-135V.

The US is also mulling over staging the large-scale joint military exercise Freedom Shield, during which brigade-level joint field manoeuvres are set to be conducted seven rounds more than last year, in March in collusion with ROK in order to push the military tension in the region to an extreme phase.

The typical Yankee-style arrogance and shameless and gangster-like double-standards logic of the US, which brands the DPRK’s nuclear deterrence for self-defence as an injustice means and places “legality” and “regularity” on former’s moves for bolstering up nuclear force for hegemony, can never work on the DPRK.

The DPRK’s nuclear force is a means for legitimate defence to safeguard the national sovereignty and the regional security. Its rapid and accelerated bolstering up is a realistic requirement for coping with the military threat of the US and its satellite countries which are getting more rampant recently.

The adventuristic military moves of the US premised on the use of nuclear strike means in actual war are getting brisk and the hostile forces’ attempt at military confrontation is getting ever more undisguised. This reality clearly proves why the DPRK armed forces’ building up of its war capability based on nuclear deterrence is a just and inevitable option.

The DPRK’s approach to the US military threat and challenge to its security is clear and consistent.

The DPRK will counter the strategic threat of the US and other enemies with strategic means and continue its responsible military activities to control and manage the unstable security environment on the Korean peninsula with powerful deterrence.

KCNA