The statement said:

In his New Year address Kim Jong Un indicated the orientation and ways for bolstering defense capability of the country, improving the people's living standards and building a socialist economic giant and highly civilized nation.

He also put up the slogan "Let the whole nation join efforts to open up a broad avenue to independent reunification in this year of the 70th anniversary of national liberation!" He proposed that the north and the south should refrain from seeking confrontation of systems while absolutizing their own ideologies and systems but achieve great national unity true to the principle of By Our Nation Itself to satisfactorily resolve the reunification issue in conformity with the common interests of the nation.

We warmly welcome the proposals for reunifying Korea laid out by supreme leader Kim Jong Un and fully support them.

The south Korean authorities should respond to the DPRK's peace-loving proposals without delay, not bargaining or weighing them.

The U.S. should abandon its attempt to stifle the DPRK, fortress of independence and justice, by force of arms and make a political decision of respecting the sovereignty of the DPRK.