Pyongyang, June 16 (KCNA) -- The Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued the following press statement on Friday over the vicious sanctions and pressure by the U.S. and its followers:

The despicable sanctions and pressure imposed on the DPRK by the U.S. and its vassal forces have reached the extreme.

The DPRK's development of nuclear force that the U.S. and its vassal forces use as a pretext for sanctions is an outcome of the extremely hostile policy of the U.S. and its nuclear threat against the DPRK and, hence, it is a legitimate and righteous measure for self-defense to protect the sovereignty and the right to existence of the country and nation.

Not a single article or provision in the UN Charter and other international laws stipulates that nuclear test or ballistic rocket launch poses a threat to international peace and security. If, nonetheless, anyone were ever to be held accountable for carrying them out, those countries that have conducted most of the nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches so far should be subject to sanctions before any others.

Nevertheless, the U.S. and other hostile forces have constantly waged sanctions and pressure campaign against the DPRK, taking issue with its exercise of the right to self-defense and now they are openly pursuing the criminal intent to completely suffocate the DPRK's national economy and impoverish the people's livelihood.

Their sanctions have grown utterly vicious and barbaric today as to try to obliterate the rights to existence and development of the state and people of the DPRK, destroy modern civilization and bring the world back into medieval darkness.

The very nature of these sanctions running counter to the human ethics and civilization finds its expression in the fact that the hostile forces cooked up the so-called "sanctions resolutions" of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in the most despicable and heinous way and are enforcing them upon the international community.

The UN "sanctions resolutions" are so preposterous that the wide-ranging import and export prohibition or restriction enforced by them has included even luxury goods while listing numerous entities and individuals to be subject to sanctions, allegedly aiming to contain the DPRK's nuclear and ballistic missile-related activities. These "resolutions" are producing endless series of bizarre and ridiculous episodes.

The prohibition on the export of underground resources including coal was indiscriminately expanded and the control over "dual-use" items was exercised in such a careless way that these measures are having adverse consequences for the people's livelihood and normal economic activities.

Last year, the customs office of a certain country seized even frozen chicken, cosmetics packaging and zipper tab production equipment and materials as well as frequency stabilizers and voltage regulators to be used at fishery stations, and returned them after several months.

These are only few of many cases which testify to the fact that the "sanctions resolutions" rigged up at the UNSC allegedly to protect the international peace and security are actually pursuing the nefarious objective of impeding the development of the overall national economy of the DPRK.

The "Resolution 2270" coercively adopted at the UNSC was weird enough to include recreational sports equipment in the list of luxury goods.

As the result, a country in Europe is prohibiting the export of sports equipment and apparatus to the DPRK such as ski, yacht, mountaineering boots, snowmobile, snow groomer and even billiard table for the reasons of implementation of the "resolution".

Another country prohibits the export of sports apparatus including sports firearms, ammunitions and archery equipment that the DPRK used to import regularly, for fear of violating the "sanctions resolutions".

In November 2016, seven sets of diving flippers addressed to the Rungna Dolphinarium in Pyongyang were confiscated by the customs office in a European country as they were classified as luxury goods.

It had been decided to hold the 2017 World Junior Judo Championship and 2018 IWF (International Weightlifting Federation) Junior World Championship in the DPRK, but the venues have now changed to other countries. One country has denied entry visas to the teams and delegations of the DPRK to attend the international sports tournaments while the support grants legally provided by the International Olympic Committee and other international sports federations are not being remitted to the DPRK.

Archery equipment would never become ballistic rockets and sports rifles could never be used to launch nuclear warheads, but some countries either being overpowered by or blindly following the high-handed practices of the hostile forces are bringing disgrace to the ideal and purpose of sports.

These brutal and barbarous sanctions and pressure have stretched out their claws to the public health and humanitarian areas as well.

The UNICEF country office in the DPRK ordered 24.4 tons of malaria mosquito repellent (Insecticide Residual Spray) from other countries in September 2016, but they were unable to sign a contract for the transportation of the goods as that would breach the UN "sanctions resolutions". The goods could never leave the place of origin and they have remained piled up in the warehouse for 9 months until today.

In November 2016, the country office procured 15 mobile X-ray units and the reagent for diagnosis of tuberculosis, but the delivery was delayed for 6 months for the reason that those were classified as "dual-use" items by the UN "sanctions resolutions" on the DPRK.

In January 2017, a hundred thousand ampoules of ephedrine being imported by a health company of the DPRK were unreasonably seized although the company had gone through the procedure of informing the International Narcotics Control Board in advance as per the regulations.

The fact that the items urgently needed for the treatment of chronic diseases are being subject to sanctions for such absurd reasons as "dual-use" proves that the clause in the "sanctions resolutions" which underlined that the measures imposed by the resolutions are "not intended to have adverse humanitarian consequences for the civilian population of the DPRK" is only a deception and that the "sanctions" are actually targeting the daily life and the very existence of the people of the DPRK.

Some countries in Europe refuse to grant basic diplomatic privileges and immunities to the DPRK diplomatic passport holders and treat them with impudence by randomly searching their luggage and confiscating used household items, cosmetics, and even carbonated drinks and children's bicycle in flagrant disregard of the universally recognized legal norms and practices.

They are so crazy and obsessed about "sanctions" that diplomats do not make any difference to them and children's bicycle, refrigerator, kitchen utensils and hairdryer appear to be weapons of mass destruction-related items.

As seen above, the sanctions and blockade racket aimed to isolate and suffocate the DPRK is going beyond the limits.

The U.S. is the primary mastermind of this frantic campaign of sanctions and pressure on the DPRK.

Not only the U.S. fabricated the unprecedented vicious "sanctions resolutions" against the DPRK by abusing the mandate of the UNSC and made attempts to drag all countries of the world into their implementation, but it maliciously resorted to "unilateral sanctions" against the DPRK claiming to close the loophole in the UN sanctions.

The "sanctions" of all sorts that the U.S. has imposed on the DPRK for more than half a century are now becoming all the more reckless backed by such evil laws as the "North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016".

The newly emerged Trump administration announced "maximum pressure and engagement" as its policy towards the DPRK, and continues to invent different kinds of "sanctions" including the "sanctions on specially designated nationals" which targeted even the supreme dignity of the DPRK, in attempt to comprehensively furnish its domestic law to accommodate the "unilateral sanctions" on any entity or individual of the DPRK.

A quick calculation shows that 15 Party and government organs, 73 other firms and entities and about 90 individuals of the DPRK are currently placed on the sanctions list together with 16 airplanes and 20 trade cargo ships, but hardly any of them are associated with munitions area at all.

The U.S. is also making desperate and frenzied moves to involve other countries in the "sanctions" campaign against the DPRK.

The U.S. state secretary said on a recent occasion that the U.S. made it clear to all countries including China and Russia that they should join in imposing "sanctions" on the DPRK. He also said if a country claims that the total amount of its trade with the DPRK does not exceed 5 million USD, the U.S. would ask the country to reduce it to 2 million. This fully reveals the true colors of the U.S. as the gang of muggers.

The U.S. has employed the "secondary boycott" to achieve its wicked aim, and business persons and firms of several countries including China and Russia have already fallen victim to it and suffered huge losses in their economic activities and business management as they were unreasonably put on the sanctions list of the U.S.

Besides, the U.S. is coercing all the countries that established diplomatic relations with the DPRK to sever the relations or scale down the level, in a blatant violation of the international laws including the UN Charter and Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Except one Latin American country and two or three Asian countries that show signs of attempts to reduce the number of the DPRK diplomats in their countries under the pressure of the U.S., the overwhelming majority of the countries resolutely reject the U.S. demand, regarding it an interference in their internal affairs, or simply ignore it.

The sanctions campaign waged by the U.S. and its vassal forces is a heinous act of hostility and aggression against the DPRK to deprive it of her sovereignty and rights to existence and development, and to overthrow its ideology and system by all means.

If the high-handed and arbitrary practices of the U.S. are tolerated, allowed and sympathized with, their spearhead will eventually be leveled at the other countries adhering to independence and the world will plunge into gloom where the U.S. holds sway on everything.

The U.S. and its vassal forces that always suffer crushing defeats in the overall politico-military confrontation with the DPRK may resort to much more despicable and barbarous sanctions, but they can never check the advance of the DPRK marching towards the final victory of the building of a powerful socialist country by dint of self-reliance and self-development.

As the U.S. and other hostile forces get more frantic in the moves to impose the toughest sanctions and pressure on the DPRK, the hatred and rage of the army and people of the country will only grow stronger and the DPRK will further speed up the strengthening of its nuclear force to root out the base of aggression and all evils. -0-