US actions against Pyongyang reveal its true goal of igniting war in the region, a North Korean official claims, adding that its recently-tested “hydrogen bomb” and missiles would help to protect peace, fending off aggression “at any place on the Earth.”

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“The aggressive statements of [US President Donald] Trump, ‘fire and fury,’ the ongoing US hysterical scheming against our republic clearly indicate that the US is an insolent brigand, disregarding the will of the international community, the establishment of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and pursuing the only vile goal – war,” Minister of Foreign Economic Relations and head of the North Korean delegation Kim Young-jae told reporters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday.

The US condemnation of the North Korean nuclear and missile tests, which violate the UNSC resolutions, was actually meant to conceal Washington’s own warmongering nature, the official stated, adding that his country develops weapons only to protect itself.

“At the moment, following the successful tests of the hydrogen bomb fitted to the inter-continental ballistic missiles [ICBM], the US and its satellites wage the so-called campaign to condemn [DPRK] and tighten sanctions against our republic. The actions of the US, chewing into the strengthening of the defensive nuclear armaments and aimed at smearing our republic are an attempt to conceal the true nature of the nuclear tension-stirrer,” Kim Young-jae said.

Pyongyang was in fact pushed down the path of creating its own nuclear stockpile by the US hostility and constant “nuclear blackmailing,” the official claimed.

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“To eradicate the hostile moves and nuclear blackmail on part of the US, which have been ongoing for over a decade, we’ve chosen the path of nuclear armament, and the recent hydrogen bomb to arm the ICBMs is a step to achieve the goal of … modernizing the state nuclear armed forces,” Kim Young-jae added.

Development of the home-grown weapons of mass destruction has allowed North Korea to “have powerful forces of nuclear deterrence, which allow [us] to mercilessly fend off the onslaught of the hostile forces at any place on the Earth and boldly protect the peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the whole region,” the official added.

“The US, orating about 'all options on the table' and trying through unprecedented malicious sanctions and pressure to frighten us and turn us back, is making a big miscalculation. The US should never forget about our current status of a state, possessing nuclear bombs and ICBMs. We will respond to the barbaric US schemes of imposing sanctions and pressure with powerful counter-measures of our own,” Kim Young-jae concluded.