Exposing the ever-more undisguised U.S. political and military provocation moves against the DPRK, he stressed that all facts clearly prove the U.S. is the real provocateur, the very one scrapping the armistice agreement and the arch criminal escalating tensions.

The DPRK's nuclear deterrent for self-defence will steadily be bolstered up as long as there continues the U.S. hostile policy, he said, condemning the present south Korean authorities for acting the role of a shock brigade in screwing up tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

In order to defuse the tensions on the Korean Peninsula and defend peace there, it is important to correctly find out the cause of tensions and the realistic way for overcoming it, he said, emphasizing three points.

Firstly, it is necessary to correctly understand the aim of the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK and its danger.

The U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK that has lasted for more than half a century is strategically aimed to stamp out the idea and the social system chosen by the Korean people, swallow up the whole of the Korean Peninsula and thus attain military hegemony in Northeast Asia.

Secondly, to repeal the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK is a key to settling the issue of the Korean Peninsula.

No solution of problem can be expected as long as there exists the U.S. hostile policy seeking to stifle the DPRK at any cost while regarding it as a target of hostility for the reason that it has differing idea and social system.

Thirdly, the repeal of the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK should begin with putting an end to the current relations between the DPRK and the U.S. which are technically at war.

The DPRK and the U.S. are leveling guns at each other in this state. It is unreasonable to demand the DPRK abandon its nuclear deterrent first under the present situation.

He expressed expectation that member nations of the ASEAN Regional Forum would have a correct understanding of the root cause of the issue of the Korean Peninsula and extend support and solidarity to the efforts of the DPRK to ensure peace and stability there.

The DPRK government will as ever further strengthen friendly and cooperative relations with regional countries in line with its foreign policy of independence, friendship and peace and fulfill all its responsibility in defending peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and the region, Pak concluded.