The statement recalled that the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK issued a statement on Oct. 17 in which it re-clarified its fair and aboveboard stand to replace the Korean Armistice Agreement (AA) by a peace treaty at the 70th UN General Assembly.

The issue of replacing the AA by a peace treaty is the one which requires the U.S. to take the plunge first and the DPRK and the U.S. should reach a principled agreement on it, to begin with, the statement said, and went on:

The UN, too, should positively support the conclusion of a peace treaty so as to put an end to the abnormal situation where its member country is technically at war with the "UN Command" on the Korean Peninsula.

If the U.S. sidesteps the conclusion of a peace treaty and puts up a conditionality on it, it will fully reveal in the eyes of the world that it has no will to roll back its hostile policy toward the DPRK.

If the U.S. persistently pursues the hostile policy toward the DPRK, it DPRK will bolster up its nuclear deterrence.

The U.S. response to the conclusion of a peace treaty will meet its interests, too.