Pyongyang, February 27 (KCNA) -- A spokesperson for the National Coordinating Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism gave the following answer to a question raised by KCNA on Tuesday as regards another anti-DPRK "public statement" adopted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF):

The plenary meeting of FATF, held in Paris from 21 to 23 February 2018, adopted stereo-typed "public statement" against the DPRK which alleges that there still remain significant deficiencies in anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism(AML/CFT) regime of the DPRK and all jurisdictions should terminate the DPRK's financing of proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).

We strongly reject this statement as representation of a habitual act of the United States committed by misusing FATF.

The "public statement", a direct reflection of the U.S. sophistry, is no less than a worthless document totally distorting the reality of the DPRK where proper AML/CFT system is put in place and into normal operation.

As already known, FATF recognized that the DPRK had taken a series of actions pursuant to the "international standards", such as revising and supplementing relevant domestic laws and intensifying the roles of financial intelligence and supervisory institutions, and FATF also planned to visit the DPRK in order to get first-hand knowledge of the reality on the spot. But, the visit has not yet been made due to the obstruction of the U.S.

In an attempt to justify the financial sanctions against the DPRK, the U.S., at first, misused "international standards" for charging the DPRK with money laundering and financing of terrorism through financial system. And as collaboration between FATF and the DPRK went well, the U.S. has come up with another allegation of what is called the DPRK's financing of WMD proliferation by disguising the UN "sanctions resolutions" as "international standards".

All the facts eloquently prove that anti-DPRK "public statements" adopted by FATF every year since 2009 are exactly in line with the desperate acts of the U.S. terrified at the might of the DPRK which has rapidly emerged as a world nuclear power.

Our nuclear weapon is a treasured sword for defending peace, capable of thwarting any nuclear threats from the U.S. and preventing it from starting an adventurous war, and therefore, if the FATF is truly interested in preventing the financing of WMD proliferation, it should strongly condemn the U.S. and put sanctions on it, the very country that has the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons in the world and pours an astronomical amount of fund into their maintenance and modernization even at this moment. -0-