Venezuela is one of the world’s leading oil producers and exporters.

The country is rich in underground resources including iron, manganese, nickel, diamond and gold, as well as crude oil.

The Venezuelan people are now waging a dynamic struggle to defend their sovereignty and achieve social stability against the moves of the dominationists to seize control of the natural resources of their country.

These days, the US is further intensifying military threat against Venezuela.

Under the pretext of "anti-drug operation", it threatened to arrest the Venezuelan president and mounted a military attack on the Venezuelan ships in the Caribbean Sea.

Enraged by this, the Venezuelan government declared Venezuela a drug-free country and the Caribbean a peace zone recognized by the UN, rejecting the brigandish act of the US which deployed nuclear-powered submarines and other armed forces in the sea under the veil of "anti-drug".

The Venezuelan president said at a press conference last September that the country would not yield to the US’ threat and blackmail, adding that it wants peace but will fight to defend its territory if it is under attack.

To cope with the US’ war threats, the Venezuelan government adopted a decision on mobilizing 4.5 million-strong militia forces across the country and has taken a series of measures to form combat forces at factories and other workplaces and strengthen the civilian forces in cities and rural areas.

In early October, it staged military drills in 335 areas and over 15 000 bases across the country. And on October 18, it launched the military exercise codenamed the “Avenue across Venezuelan plain" in different states in its central part.

The aim of the military drills was to keep the national defence forces fully ready through the mobilization of broad sections of civilians and cooperation between the regions, while increasing the command and communication capabilities of armed units and militias in an all-round way.

Meanwhile, Venezuela has set it as the goal of economic construction to fully satisfy its domestic demand by diversifying its economy, breaking from the previous mode of developing the economy based on the income from oil export.

Externally, it is directing great efforts to strengthening cooperation with regional countries while consistently adhering to the principle of peace and independence.

The Korean people extend firm solidarity and support to the will and efforts of the Venezuelan government advancing under the banner of independence against the US.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela established diplomatic relations on October 28 1974.