The Vice-General Director of the General Armaments Bureau of the Ministry of National Defence of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued the following press statement on April 1 under the title "The New 'Co-Produced Weapon' of the US-Japan Military Alliance Signals the Further Unstable Security Environment of the Region":

The US-Japan alliance styling itself a key axis of the US-led military alliance system in the Asia-Pacific region is taking on a fresh appearance to give repeated signals of instability to the surrounding countries and the regional society. A typical example is that the United States and Japan formally agreed to co-produce the latest air-to-air missile "AIM-120", with the recent visit of the US Secretary of Defense to Japan as an occasion.

What is serious is that it can never be accepted only as the production of weapons for fighters aimed at defending airspace and securing the command of the air. The danger of it is further highlighted in the light of the peculiarities of the geopolitical and military security environment in the northeast Asia.

In view of the military doctrine of the US Air Force which specified that the command of the air should be secured through massive introduction and use of the ultra-modern long-range air weapons such as "AIM-120", the anti-aircraft system of enemy states be neutralized through preemptive strike and then strategic bombers be sent to deal a heavy blow to the strategic depth of the opponent, "AIM-120" is now becoming another "co-produced weapon" of the US-Japan military alliance, which is turning offensive and aggressive from A to Z.

The joint production of ultra-modern weapons pursued by the United States and Japan is adding new element of strategic instability to the Asia-Pacific region, bringing ominous dark clouds. Certainly, the center of gravity of the US hegemony-oriented military security strategy is changing and it is a new warning signal for the Asia-Pacific regional society including the countries in the northeast Asia.

It will be a priority task of the DPRK in the future, too, to actively cope with the unstable strategic environment being created around the DPRK by the United States and its followers and to bolster up the powerful deterrence capable of making enemy countries have no other choice but to give up their political and military ambition. The DPRK's efforts to apply the most appropriate solution to control and manage the military tension in the region will continue, and Washington and its servants' attempt to hold military hegemony will never be allowed.