The chief of the External Policy Office of the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on June 1 issued the following press statement titled “Our efforts to defend the dignity, rights and interests of the state will go on regardless of anyone's prejudiced viewpoint and malicious criticism”:

Recently, the multilateral sanctions monitoring team (MSMT), a US-led anti-DPRK sanctions and plot-breeding body, has committed a political provocation of making public a fabricated “report” finding fault with the cooperative relations between the DPRK and Russia.

The hostile act of the MSMT, a bogus group which has no legality in terms of existence and purpose, is a wanton violation of the principles of international laws with equal sovereignty and non-interference in others’ internal affairs as the core, and a mockery of the fair international community.

We express serious concern over the provocative acts of the West to encroach upon the sovereign rights of the DPRK with its unilateral and high-handed political and legal standards as a yardstick, and sternly warn of the negative consequences to be entailed by their reckless acts.

No one has given the US and its followers the mission and power to judge and denounce the legitimate relations between sovereign states at their own discretion, and herein lies the main reason why the existence and activities of the MSMT should be questioned and rejected.

The MSMT, which was formed arbitrarily by eleven countries hostile to the DPRK and the Russian Federation, is thoroughly a political tool working in the geopolitical interests of the West and, therefore, it has no justification to investigate the exercise of sovereign rights of other countries.

The DPRK-Russia military cooperation aimed at protecting their sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests and ensuring peace and stability in the Eurasian region is a legitimate exercise of the sovereign right granted by Article 51 of the UN Charter which stipulates that every state has the right to self-defence individually or collectively, and by Article 4 of the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the DPRK and Russia which requires each of the parties to provide immediate military and other assistance in the event of an armed attack against the other.

There is a thing that should be made clear in this opportunity. That the military cooperation among the countries involved in the MSMT has not become the target of international investigation is not because it is just, defensive and, moreover, peaceful.

The legality and justness of the DPRK-Russia relations based on the new development-oriented viewpoint lies in the fact that the bilateral relationship is the cream of inter-state relations geared to putting an end to the era, in which a handful of countries formed an illegal and confrontation-oriented political and military group and resort to arbitrary practices at will, and to establishing a multi-polar world order based on genuine respect for sovereignty, equality and justice.

The DPRK has the right to take strong countermeasures to defend its rights and interests from the outrageous encroachment on its sovereignty and interference in its internal affairs by the member states of the MSMT.

The hostile forces’ illegal plot-breeding moves will have no effect on the relations of cooperation between independent sovereign states and our efforts to defend the dignity, rights and interests of the state will go on regardless of anyone’s prejudiced viewpoint and malicious criticism.

KCNA