War Rehearsal Will Bring Disastrous Consequences: KCNA Commentary

Pyongyang, August 17 (KCNA) -- The U.S. and the south Korean authorities keep staging joint military drills for aggression despite warnings from the DPRK and denunciation from the international community.

This is an open denial and an outright challenge to the historic DPRK-U.S. joint statement in which commitments were made to establish new DPRK-U.S. relations and build lasting and durable peace-keeping mechanism on the Korean Peninsula.

Now the U.S. makes all descriptions, claiming that the on-going exercises are mock exercises for confirming the south Korean army's ability to take over the wartime operation control.

But the aggressive nature of the actual maneuvers, the war rehearsal for stifling the DPRK by force of arms, can neither be covered up nor justified in the bright world today.

Experts on the situation, commenting on the joint military exercises, pointed out that "they are not favorable for building mutual trust and can entail countermeasure of the DPRK as they still take the DPRK for an imaginary enemy" and that "they may render tense the situation on the Korean Peninsula again."

It is none other than the U.S. and the south Korean authorities who whet a sword to do harm to the DPRK behind the scene despite their lip-service for dialogue in front.

A stop to the joint military exercises is an issue which the man with the full command of the armed forces of the U.S. committed to do in person at the Singapore DPRK-U.S. summit in the world's eyes and an issue which was repeatedly committed to do at the Panmunjom DPRK-U.S. summit also.

However, the U.S. together with the south Korean authorities is resorting to the military action of openly pressurizing the DPRK, while describing it as "defensive one" and an "essential element" for combat preparations.

Military exercises always presuppose an actual war.

It is a well-known fact that the U.S. and the south Korean authorities grew proficient in the capabilities for fighting a war, steadily modifying and supplementing operational plans of all descriptions that presuppose a sudden preemptive attack on the DPRK for the past decades.

As acknowledged by the world people, the purpose of the war exercises targeting the DPRK has not changed.

The ultra-modern offensive arms and equipment including reconnaissance drone Global Hawk finding their unhindered way to south Korea and the war exercises that are constantly held clearly prove from where the threats hurting the security of our state come.

The war scenario which set the dialogue partner as an enemy is no longer exercises when they are put into a phase of implementation.

No law stipulates that the one side may backtrack from commitments and only we have to fulfill them.

The right answer for removing all the potential and direct threats posed to the security of our state is the constant development of powerful physical means and their deployment for an actual war.

The U.S. should keep in mind that our repeated warnings are not hot air. -0-