He in his statement said that it is of very weighty significance that the ministry proposed to the parties to the Armistice Agreement an early start of the talks for replacing the AA by a peace treaty this year, demanding the U.S. government sincerely respond to the proposal of the DPRK and positively opt for the work to build confidence between the two countries.

A peace treaty should be concluded, above all, to terminate the state of war, the root cause of the hostile relations, in order to build confidence between the DPRK and the U.S., he said, hoping that the U.S. would pull down the barrier of discrimination and distrust called sanctions against the DPRK.

D. Raja, secretary of the National Council of the Communist Party of India, in his statement released on the same day extended full support and firm solidarity to the Workers' Party of Korea and the people of the DPRK in their efforts to replace the AA by a peace treaty.