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 and interests of the state will not be bound by anyone's prejudiced viewpoint and malicious criticism":

Recently, the multilateral sanctions monitoring team (MSMT), the US-led sanctions and plot-breeding body, committed a political provocation of fabricating and making public a "report" taking issue 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 raison d’etre and purpose, is a wanton violation of the international legal principles with sovereignty equality 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 Democratic People's Republic of Korea with its unilateral and high-handed political and legal standards as a yardstick and give a stern warning against the negative consequences to be entailed by its reckless acts.

No one has given the US and its servile allies the mission and power to judge and denounce the legitimate relations between sovereign states at will, 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 Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation, is thoroughly a political tool operating according to 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 the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests of the states and ensuring peace and stability in the Eurasian region is the exercise of the legitimate sovereign right made in compliance with Article 51 of the UN Charter which stipulates that each state has the right to self-defence individually or collectively and Article 4 of the treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership between the DPRK and Russia which requires each of the parties to provide military and other assistance in case of an armed attack against the other party.

There is a need to make clear at this opportunity that the reason why the military cooperation between 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 validity of the DPRK-Russia relations based on the new development-oriented point lie in the fact that they are the cream of inter-state relations designed to put an end to the era, in which a handful of countries form an illegal and confrontation-oriented political and military group and resort to arbitrary practices at will, and to establish 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 fail to have effect on the cooperative relations between independent sovereign states and our efforts to defend the dignity and interests of the state will not be bound by anyone's prejudiced viewpoint and malicious criticism.