Spokesman for Institute for American Studies of DPRK FM on Aggressive Nature of U.S.-S. Korea Joint Military Exercises

Pyongyang, August 21 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Institute for American Studies of the DPRK Foreign Ministry in a statement on Friday exposed the aggressive nature and danger of the large-scale joint military exercises staged by the U.S. and south Korean puppet forces several times every year.
    Army of any country stages drills but they vary in their nature in the light of their purpose, scenario, place, scale, operation mode and equipment involved, the statement said, and went on:
    The DPRK has never taken a serious note of the military drills staged by the U.S. in its mainland or Pacific, the places which do not pose any threat to the DPRK.
    But the U.S.-south Korea joint military exercises are different from those drills.
    They pose particularly serious danger unlike ordinary military drills as they are large-scale rehearsals for a war of aggression being staged by the U.S., the biggest nuclear power in the world, in areas close to the DPRK.
    5 000 troops of 11 countries are involved in the "quick reaction 15" joint military drill of NATO, the largest-ever since the Cold War, which is now under way in Europe. But at least 30 000 U.S. troops and more than 50 000 puppet troops of south Korea are now involved in the Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military exercises. This clearly proves their dangerous nature.
    This is clear from the fact that the war drills are focused on landing operations and commando operations aimed at making a surprise attack on the DPRK and "occupying Pyongyang." The distance of the targets set by the U.S. from theatres of drills clearly proves that the U.S. seeks to bring down the DPRK after throwing away the signboard called "defensive drill" in a moment when an opportunity presents itself.
    The danger of war exercises will never decrease when they bring a "visiting group" to such terror-ridden theatre of war rehearsals.
    It is nonsensical for the U.S. to compare the aggressive and provocative joint war exercises it stages together with the south Korean puppet forces with huge armed forces including preemptive nuclear strike means involved in areas very close to the DPRK, its belligerent party, with the Korean People's Army's independent military drill conducted in its land.
    The U.S. assertion that it cannot stop the joint war exercises as it has staged them for more than 40 years can convince no one.
    The U.S. had halted Team Spirit joint military exercises according to the DPRK-U.S. agreed framework in 1992, the north-south agreement on non-aggression and a joint declaration on denuclearization were adopted and took effect on the Korean Peninsula that year and the safeguards accord was signed between the DPRK and the International Atomic Energy Agency, making noticeable progress in ensuring peace.
    It is self-contradictory for the U.S. to insist it cannot stop the military exercises as they have long been staged, while ignoring such historical facts.
    The DPRK government is more strongly opposed to the joint military exercises now because their aggressive nature has gone beyond tolerance limit.
    In those days when the joint military exercises were staged at the end of the 1960s the U.S. claimed that their purpose was to conduct drills for hurling its troops in contingency on the Korean Peninsula.
    Such drills have turned into very provocative and aggressive war maneuvers aimed to "remove the headquarters of the DPRK" and "occupy Pyongyang" after the lapse of more than four decades.
    The U.S. brought to light its ever more undisguised hostile intent to bring down the social system of the DPRK over the "human rights" issue recently and even its president unhesitatingly talked about the "collapse of the social system." Such reality makes the DPRK further raise vigilance against the aggressive and dangerous nature of the joint military drills and hardens its will not to allow such war drills any longer.
    The situation in the area along the Military Demarcation Line has now reached the brink of war due to the military provocations of the south Korean puppet forces. This is a natural product of the hostile policy pursued by the U.S. to fan up the confrontation hysteria of the puppet forces through dangerous war maneuvers.
    To halt the joint military maneuvers, the most vivid manifestation of the hostile policy towards the DPRK, or not will be a touchstone judging whether the U.S. is going to seek a peaceful solution of the Korean issue or not. -0-