Pyongyang, June 7 (KCNA) — The vice general director of the General Armaments Bureau of the Ministry of National Defence of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea gave the following answer to a question raised by KCNA on June 7 as regards the fact that the U.S. has approved the sales of JDAM and associated equipment to the ROK:

Recently, the U.S. announced that it approved the sales of 708 KMU-557 JDAM tail kits and 58 KMU-572 JDAM guidance sets, amounting to 106 million US dollars, at the request of the ROK.

The U.S. approval heralds the change of the military role of the U.S. forces in the ROK and the military tension in the region to be entailed by it as it is pursuant to the “defence strategy” for strengthening the conventional forces of the ROK to assume the primary responsibility for deterring the DPRK.

This is proved by the fact that military hardware being transferred from the U.S. to its allies in Asia on a full scale are assuming a clear offensive nature, covering the all-round domains of ground, sea, underwater and air.

In the past few months alone, the U.S. approved the sale of GBU-39 long-range guided bombs and spare parts for new-type helicopter for naval operation MH-60R and attack helicopter AH-64E Apache to the ROK one after another while showing active cooperation with the ROK attempting to introduce nuclear submarine.

It also approved the sales of combat equipment and spare parts, including HIMARS, Javelin anti-tank missile, howitzer and suicide drone, to Taiwan, while intending to deliver Tomahawk cruise missile and other long-range attack weapons to Japan systematically.

The U.S. irresponsible arms sale and its allies’ frantic arms buildup, aimed at realizing the strategic and tactical schemes for sudden and preemptive strike, are the main factor creating instability in the situation of the Korean peninsula and other regions and escalating military tension.

The U.S. reckless arms sale adds to unpredictability on the regional and international scale and inevitably lead to the abuse of strength. This fact is evidently proven by the present geopolitical events.

It is the priority task for the armaments sector of the DPRK Ministry of National Defence to take the symmetric or asymmetric military and technical measures in every way to cope with the arms buildup of the enemy countries going far beyond the defensive limit.

The DPRK will thoroughly contain any attempt for the imbalance of strength in the region through the accelerated and renewed evolution of its self-defensive deterrent and let the hostile forces recognize in a sustained way that their irresponsible arms dealing and arms buildup are inefficient and meaningless.