PYONGYANG, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong Un, has tasked the nation to go forward with nuclear and missile development despite numerous UN sanctions, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday.
At the Second Plenum of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea held here Saturday, Kim justified the development of nuclear and missile programs by the DPRK as the only way of defense against "protracted nuclear threats" by the United States.
"He solemnly declared: The nuclear weapons of the DPRK are a precious fruition borne by its people's bloody struggle for defending the destiny and sovereignty of the country from the protracted nuclear threats of the U.S. imperialists. And they are a powerful deterrent firmly safeguarding the peace and security in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia," said the report.
The nuclear and missile capacities of the DPRK are also "reliably guaranteeing the Korean nation's sovereignty and rights to existence and development and a treasured sword of justice to remove the nuclear clouds of tyranny bringing a horrible disaster to mankind and make it possible for the people to lead an independent and happy life under the clear and blue sky," Kim said.
Kim accused the United States of "making last-ditch efforts to completely stifle the sovereignty and the rights to existence and development of the DPRK by cooking up UNSC (UN Security Council) sanction resolutions one after another."
He said the country's science and technology have "developed by leaps and bounds and the national economy has grown on their strength this year despite the escalating sanctions of the U.S. imperialists and their vassal forces."
"The Chairman (Kim) affirmed that the prevailing situation and the reality show that our Party (Workers' Party of Korea) was absolutely right when it dynamically advanced along the socialist road of Juche, holding fast to the line of simultaneously pushing forward the economic construction and the building of nuclear force and that our Party should invariably keep to this road in the future, too," said the report.
Juche, meaning self-reliance, is an ideology in the DPRK for achieving absolute independence in political, economic, military and international affairs.
The UNSC has imposed a raft of sanctions on the DPRK to curb its nuclear and missile development programs.
The latest round of sanctions came after the DPRK conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3. In response, the DPRK then tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile which flew over Japan.
