THE
EMBASSY OF THE DEMOCRATIC
PEOPLE’S
REPUBLIC OF KOREA TO SWITZERLAND
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No 110/26
Nov 07, 2026
1. DPRK Foreign Ministry Spokesperson on FATF "Decision"
2. Article on Japanese Neo-militarist Forces' Bid to Increase
"Defense Expenditure"
3. Press Statement of DPRK Permanent Mission at UN
DPRK Foreign Ministry
Spokesperson on FATF "Decision"
Pyongyang,
November 6 (KCNA) -- A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea gave the following answer to a question raised by KCNA
on Thursday as regards the adoption of an anti-DPRK "decision" at the
plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force on Anti-Money Laundering
(FATF) held in Paris, France in late October:
Shortly
ago, the Plenary Meeting of the FATF adopted again the "decision" to
re-designate the DPRK as a "state subject to countermeasures".
The
Foreign Ministry of the DPRK expresses strong displeasure over the
international financial supervisory body's abnormal practice of encroaching
upon the dignity, rights and interests of a sovereign state, going against its
mission to contribute to the establishment of fair international financial
order, and resolutely denounces and rejects it.
Explicitly
speaking once again, "money laundering", "financing of
terrorism", "drug trafficking" and "counterfeiting"
have nothing to do with the DPRK as they were fabricated by the U.S. and its
vassal forces with the sinister political aim of "demonizing" the
former.
As
known, we have taken a series of measures on our own initiative to ensure
transparency in financial transactions, including several negotiations with the
FATF since 2013 and the amendment and supplement of the domestic law on
anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, with an
intention to promote the establishment of a sound international financial
order.
However,
the FATF, persistently disregarding our goodwill and sincere efforts, has
designated our country as a "high-risk state threatening the international
financial system" and a "state subject to countermeasures" every
year, and in 2024 it even deprived us of the observer position at the
Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering.
All
facts clearly prove that the FATF has turned into a conspiracy group and an
extremely politicized organization serving the U.S. hostile policy toward the
DPRK aimed to encroach upon the normal and legitimate right to development of
our state.
The
U.S. and the Western forces are chiefly to blame for creating all sorts of criminal
acts such as money laundering, terrorism, drug trafficking and WMD
proliferation as they unhesitatingly encroach upon the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of sovereign states and cause social instability and
confusion in different parts of the world in order to realize their ambition
for hegemony.
The
FATF should be mindful that if it is used as a tool for realizing the political
purpose of the dishonest forces, abandoning its fairness and objectivity as an
international organization, it will never be able to gain the confidence of the
international community but lose its value of existence.
Consistent
is the DPRK's stand against all forms of crimes including money laundering and
the financing of terrorism.
The
DPRK will never tolerate the slightest attempt to infringe upon the dignity,
rights and interests of the state but actively join the righteous international
community in its efforts to establish a fair international order in the future,
too.
Article on Japanese Neo-militarist Forces' Bid to Increase
"Defense Expenditure"
Pyongyang,
November 6 (KCNA) -- Pak Hak Song, a researcher of the Institute for Japan
Studies under the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued the following article "The
bid of the neo-militarist forces of Japan to increase 'defense expenditure'
will only precipitate its regime and security crisis" on November 5:
The
Japanese neo-militarist forces are recklessly scheming to increase defense
expenditure, going against the common desire of humankind for the peaceful
world free from war and armed conflict.
Extremely
dangerous attempt of the Japanese right-wing conservative regime to increase
the military expenditure is bringing the dark clouds of a new arms race to
Northeast Asia.
Increasing
"Defense Expenditure", Clear Proof of Ambition for Reinvasion
80
years have passed since the Second World War ended with the unconditional
surrender of Japanese imperialism. However, Japan, a defeated nation obliged to
repent of and beg apology for unethical crimes it committed against humankind,
remains unchanged in its deep-rooted revanchist ambition.
After
its defeat, Japan has worked hard to revive militarism with the backing of the
U.S. It is characterized by the course of increasing the military expenditure
in a systematic way for arms buildup, enactment of laws and "fundamental
bolstering of its defense capability".
In
1976, the Miki Cabinet decided to limit the military expenditure to less than
1% of GDP in order to evade the public blame at home and abroad for its moves
to build up the military strength. However, in the 1980s, the Nakasone Cabinet
came up with a new military budget framework called a mode of specifying the
total amount to be spent for years, annulling the 1% limit in fact.
In
particular, in 2022, the Kishida Cabinet officially announced that it would
revise the three security-related documents to spend 43 trillion yen from 2023
to 2027 and increase the military expenditure to 2% of GDP in 2027. And the
Takaichi Cabinet, which took office last year, increased the related expenses
in the supplementary budget for 2025 to attain the goal of raising the military
expenditure to 2% of GDP two years earlier than the plan.
Not
content with it, the present regime is examining the proposal to spend 70~80
trillion yen as military expenditure for 5 years from 2027 to 2031, almost
twice as much as about 43 trillion yen allocated to the current 5-year plan.
It
was reported that such huge amount of budget would be allotted to the
development of various kinds of latest offensive weapons and drone technology,
AI and space technology on a preferential basis to cope with new patterns of
war.
The
moves of the neo-militarist forces to increase the military expenditure, which
is breaking records ceaselessly, are highlighting again the present address of
Japan that has entered the course of reinvasion after completely removing the
shackles put on the war criminal state.
Increasing
"Defense Expenditure" Going against Public Sentiments
It
was reported that at a recent expert panel of the Japanese government for
revision of three documents on security, there was an opinion that it is needed
to extract the funds for increasing the military expenditure mainly from the
total amount of budgetary expenditure and increased taxation should not be
ruled out to replenish the shortage.
It
can be said that the realistic guarantee for increasing the military
expenditure lies in securing stable financial resources, but the public at home
and abroad are concerned of it, uncertain whether it is possible to do so given
the present situation of the Japanese economy suffering from ever-rising prices
and ever-weakening yen.
According
to data published by the Japan Ministry of Finance in May, Japan's national
debt has reached 1 343 842.6 billion yen, an increase of 20 127.1 billion yen
from the previous year's, which is more than 2.5 times its GDP, at the end of
2025, and such rate is the highest among the G7 member states.
Earlier,
in January, a research institute in Tokyo announced that the number of bankrupt
enterprises with debt of more than 10 million yen has reached 10 300 in 2025, a
2.9 % growth from the previous year, exceeding 10 000 in two consecutive years,
and that it is an all-time high since 2013.
In
this regard, the Japanese public are getting increasingly vocal, calling for
putting the brakes on the large-scale arms buildup and drawing up the budget
again in due consideration of the people's livelihood, and asserting that there
exist not many financial resources for the military expenditure in the run-up
to food consumption tax cuts and the expansion of investment at home and
abroad.
It
is by no means fortuitous that opposition parties and people are strongly
opposing the government's arms buildup, saying that peace and security of the
state cannot be ensured by increasing the military expenditure, and urging it
to maintain the principle of pacifism of the constitution.
What
is clear is that the increase in military expenditure will not only darken the
prospect of the recovery of the Japanese economy but also impose heavy burden
on the people's living, far from improving Japan's security environment.
Increasing
"Defense Expenditure" Amplifying Security Crisis of Archipelago
As
recognized by the world people, Northeast Asia is witnessing ever-escalating
danger of military confrontation due to the U.S. strategy for hegemony. Japan's
reckless arms buildup plays a catalyst for further aggravating the regional
situation.
Japan
seeks to build the foundation for turning itself into a military giant with the
backing of its American master and regain the position of the old empire at any
cost. Its moves to increase the military expenditure on an unprecedented scale
with an aim to secure the capability for preemptive attack on neighboring
countries are an act of destroying regional peace and stability and adding fuel
to the flames.
If
Japan persists in arms buildup without discretion, it will invite inevitable
and due response from neighboring countries, and this will result in further escalating
the danger of military conflict in the region.
If
a military conflict in Northeast Asia starts, there is no guarantee that it
will not spill over beyond the region and develop into a new world war
threatening the existence of mankind, and the hope for the archipelago's
security will become completely meaningless.
If
Japan, a war criminal state, properly approaches history, clearly redeems its
past crimes and seeks peace without doing anything sinful against neighboring
countries again, it has no need to worry about its security.
Japan
should refrain from its anachronistic calculation and such gambling as
increasing military expenditure, which will aggravate the regime and security
crisis, reasonably facing up to the reality.
Press Statement of DPRK
Permanent Mission at UN
Pyongyang,
November 5 (KCNA) -- The Permanent Mission of the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea at the UN made public the following press statement on November 4:
The
EU submitted again a "draft resolution" flagrantly distorting the
human rights policy and situation of the DPRK to the Third Committee of the
81st Session of the UN General Assembly.
Such
a "human rights resolution" farce, staged annually by the EU against
the DPRK for 20-odd years, is a politically-motivated provocation, prompted by
the sinister intention to paint a black picture of our dignified state under
the spurious signboard of "human rights protection" and undermine our
ideology and social system.
The
Permanent Mission of the DPRK at the UN vehemently denounces and rejects the
"draft resolution" as an illegal, conspiratorial and confrontational
anti-DPRK document utterly going against the UN Charter that stipulated the
respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs of other countries.
Human
rights are by no means a monopoly of the West and no one gave the EU any
authority to size up the human rights situations of other countries by a double
standard.
Now
the international community focuses on the human rights abuses, mass
demonstrations and violence simultaneously escalating in European countries
that have always found fault with other countries, styling themselves as
"human rights champions".
In
cities across Europe, from Paris to Brussels where the EU is headquartered,
streets are filled with demonstrators from all walks of life demanding such
elementary rights as the rights to existence, labour and education, and the
realization of social justice. Peaceable demonstrators fall victim to
indiscriminate police violence and arrests and even young middle school
students have become targets of tear gas and water cannon for they call for
improved education.
Such
chaos prevailing in European countries is a human rights crisis and political
crisis brought by their twisted "human rights standard" and Western-style
value concepts, and it clearly shows what an absurd and hypocritical assertion
they have made about "human rights".
Such
European countries are taking issue with the human rights situation of others
although they should stand trial for human rights abuses. This is, indeed, a
tragicomic political cartoon.
The
EU had better mind its own business, instead of hyping up the non-existent
"human rights issues" of far-flung sovereign states, ignorant of
where they are standing.
The
human rights system and situation of a country should be appreciated by its
people rather than the outside forces harboring hostility.
In
the DPRK, guided by the people-first political idea, the state policy and
efforts are ceaselessly promoted to protect the socio-political rights of all
citizens and improve their material and cultural wellbeing, and its people are
increasingly satisfied with their human rights.
No
such "human rights" farce of the European countries, which
desperately stoke confusion between right and wrong out of their inveterate
prejudice and evil mindset toward the DPRK, can ever prevent the international
community from giving fair voice about our state's social system.
The
DPRK will never tolerate any hostile forces' attempt to infringe upon the
peaceful life and rights of its people but fully discharge its responsibility
for safeguarding their dignity, rights and interests.
