North Korea’s foreign ministry blamed the United States for “intentionally” building up tensions by flying in joint military routines with South Korea, state news agency KCNA said Tuesday. The allegation comes after South Korea and the US announced on Friday more than 10 days of large-scale military drills from March 13 to 23.
On Monday, South Korea’s defense ministry also posted a video in that they said warplanes from both countries training together off the coast of the Korean peninsula.
Despite our repeated warnings, the US intentionally continues to aggravate the situation. The recent joint air drill… clearly shows that the US scheme to use nuclear weapons against the DPRK is being carried forward at the level of an actual war.”
the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The United States and South Korea have said the forthcoming intentional drills are defensive, but North Korea sees them as a rehearsal for invasion.
We express deep regret over the irresponsible and worrying muscle-flexing of the US and South Korea, which are constantly pushing the situation in the Korean peninsula to an unpredictable state.
North Korea demands an immediate stop to the military hostile acts of disturbing peace and stability in the Korean peninsula.
If the dangerous military provocations of the US and South Korea continue… there is no guarantee that there will be no violent physical conflict in the Korean peninsula where huge armed forces of both sides are in acute confrontation.”
KCNA quoted the foreign ministry’s statement.
On Sunday, State media reported that North Korea had called on the United Nations to demand a suspension of the drills. Following a year in which North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and released a record-breaking number of missiles, Seoul and Washington have moved to ramp up joint drills and redeploy US strategic assets to the region.
