On March 12, Juche 82 (1993), the DPRK declared its withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to defend its sovereignty, security and supreme interests from the increased U.S.-led imperialists' anti-DPRK moves.

The DPRK's withdrawal from the treaty was not intended to get access to nukes, and it was a self-defensive step only to defend its right to existence by removing a pretext for military intervention on the part of the hostile forces.

The positive and constructive efforts, made by the DPRK to settle the nuclear issue even after the withdrawal, led to the adoption of the DPRK-U.S. Framework Agreement in October 1994.

However, the U.S. sought "collapse" of the DPRK behind the scene. The Obama administration, which emerged after the hawkish Bush administration, followed in the footsteps of the predecessors by sticking to the new line of "strategic patience" and thus augmented DPRK's repulsion and resistance.

The nuclear row, kicked up by the U.S., was focused on "collapse of socialism in the DPRK", not the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Such wild design of the U.S. could not be realized anyhow and its drag-on tactics only reinforced the DPRK's resentment as well as its retaliatory capabilities.

The last 20 years of the nuclear face-off between the DPRK and U.S., woven with the latter's ceaseless military pressure and economic sanctions on the former, resulted in the DPRK's access to nukes and long-range missiles after all.

The DPRK's satellite launch and possession of nukes are not designed to get an acknowledgement for a member of the "Space Club" and "Nuclear Club", as claimed by the West. They are only for ensuring smooth economic development and providing a guarantee for it.

Anti-DPRK pressures by application of double-standards, the unjust behaviors taken by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the like 20 years ago have been revived on an extension basis in the UN arena at present, and the U.S. launched the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises for a nuclear war, together with its allied forces.

The reality goes to prove once again how timely and appropriate was the DPRK's choice of toughest counteraction.

The U.S. one-sided hostile policy derailed the DPRK from the track of nuclear development for peaceful purposes, forcing it to develop self-defensive nuclear deterrent.

Time will show with what additional retaliatory means the DPRK would drive the hostile forces into destruction.

The U.S. has no other choice but to give up its futile hostile policy towards the DPRK.