Pyongyang, October 20 (KCNA) -- New danger of war is prevailing in the Korean peninsula and the rest of Northeast Asia due to the large-scale joint military exercises launched by the ROK and Japan with the U.S. on October 19.
The reckless moves of the enemy states, aimed at gaining the superior strength, foretell the escalation of regional military tensions, and constitute the root cause of adding a new element of instability to the security environment of regional countries.
The U.S. forces in the ROK will participate in the large-scale field mobile war exercises Hoguk to be conducted by the warmongers of the puppet ROK until October 30. During the exercises, two rounds of joint field mobile training, postponed during Ulji Freedom Shield war game in August for its earlier conclusion, will be reportedly conducted.
The ROK did not conceal the aggressive and provocative nature of Hoguk by announcing that it would intensify cooperation and actual war simulation in the spheres of ground, sea and air, and conduct such field mobile drills as simulated battles between units, in the light of recent warfare, during the exercises.
Timed to coincide with the war racket of the ROK, Japan, too, launched the largest-ever joint military drill Keen Sword with the U.S. across the Japanese archipelago on October 19 with the involvement of about 45 000 troops, 6 100 vehicles, 40 warships and 260 planes.
In particular, the U.S. nuclear carrier Theodore Roosevelt strike group will take part in the drill and the U.S. new-type anti-ship missile system NMESIS will be deployed in Japan for the first time.
Against this backdrop, the commander of the U.S. forces in the ROK and those concerned of the U.S. Eighth Army, cried out for responding to the DPRK's "evolved threat," openly revealed their design to drastically expand the joint military drills through the additional introduction of dispersive drill mode of the U.S. and the ROK, and betrayed their intention to accelerate the deployment of the U.S. Army multi-domain mobile task force in the ROK and turn it into the frontline logistic base.
The reality goes to clearly prove that the ROK and Japan are going to stand in the forefront of the "proxy war" against the DPRK and other regional countries under the active backstage manipulation of the U.S. aimed at forming the Asia-Pacific version of NATO.
Recently, the ROK staged provocative military drills such as a maritime infiltration drill and Ssangyong, all of which were aimed at mastering the war-fighting capability, and enacted a "special law" to introduce nuclear submarines.
Japan, too, is working hard to revive militarism, as evidenced by the fact that it specified "new mode of operation" and "increased capability for attacking enemy bases" in its 2026 Defense White Paper and is going to spend the largest-ever military expenditure and mobilize type 25 surface-to-ship guided missile with a range of 1 000 km for the Keen Sword joint military exercises.
The ROK and Japan are getting undisguised in their reckless moves for escalating military confrontation, occasioned by the U.S. pursuance of the strategy for "modernized alliance". This constitutes a major factor of aggravating the danger of war on the Korean peninsula and wantonly violating the security environment of the DPRK and other neighboring countries.
According to its new national security strategy and defence strategy, the U.S. seeks to let the ROK and Japan steadily increase their war-fighting capabilities under the pretext of deterring rival nations in the first island chain and use them as shock brigades for realizing its Indo-Pacific strategy.
The present situation, in which the hostile forces get frantic in their military moves to infringe upon the security interests of the DPRK and undermine the regional strategic stability, highlights the validity and justness of the DPRK's indispensable self-defensive efforts to deter them.
Bolstered deterrent is required to deal with ever-escalating threats, and repeated provocations are bound to meet with such prompt reaction as bolstering of stronger capabilities.
To cope with the security environment on the Korean peninsula that has been put in new danger by oft-repeated U.S.-Japan-ROK military provocations, the DPRK will continue to remind them of its will to defend sovereignty through ceaseless upgrading, bolstering and responsible demonstration of its reliable war deterrent for self-defence.
The DPRK is unshakable in its stand to control and manage all threats to its security sphere, given the immutable reality that the enemy states' ill-intended moves for military confrontation will never come to an end or diminish.
Tit-for-tat principle based on strong power will be applied to cope with the muscle flexing of the enemy states. -0
