The moves of the imperialist reactionary forces to put political and military pressure on the DPRK and sanctions on it reached an extreme point last year, but they could neither undermine our army's and people's faith in certain victory nor block the proud revolutionary advance of Juche Korea, he said.

He said that as long as the U.S. and its followers persist in their nuclear threat and blackmail against the DPRK and, as long as they do not give up the war exercises staged under the cloak of annual drill right in front of the DPRK, the latter will continue to bolster the self-reliant defense capability and a capability for a preemptive strike with a nuclear force as its pivot.

He stressed that the Workers' Party of Korea and the government of the DPRK will in the future, too, be faithful to the foreign policy tenet of independence, peace and friendship, and develop the relations of good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation with countries advocating independence and make joint efforts to realize the genuine international justice.