North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned neighbors Seoul against participating in exercises with Washington (Image: Reuters)
North Korea has sent warnings to Seoul and Washington several times regarding tabletop exercises, saying that these exercises will increase tensions further.
North Korea’s foreign ministry accused the United States of “deliberately” raising tensions by flying into joint military exercises with South Korea, state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday.
The allegation comes after Seoul and Washington announced Friday large-scale military exercises over 10 days from March 13 to 23.
South Korea’s defense ministry also posted the video online on Monday, which it said showed warplanes from the two countries training together off the coast of the Korean peninsula.
“Despite our repeated warnings, the US continues to deliberately escalate the situation,” the State Department said in a statement on Monday.
The statement, using an acronym for North Korea’s official name, said, “The recent joint air exercise… clearly shows that the US plan to use nuclear weapons against the DPRK has been carried out at the level of actual war.” But it is being carried forward.”
The United States and South Korea have said the upcoming planned drills are defensive, but Pyongyang views them as rehearsals for invasion.
“We deeply regret the irresponsible and alarming actions of the US and South Korea, which continue to push the situation on the Korean Peninsula to an unprecedented state,” KCNA quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying.
The statement said North Korea calls for an “immediate cessation of military hostile acts to disturb peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula”.
“If the US and South Korea’s dangerous military provocations continue … there is no guarantee that there will be no violent physical conflict on the Korean Peninsula where the vast armed forces of both sides are in intense confrontation.”
State media reported on Sunday that North Korea has urged the United Nations to stop the practice.
After a year in which Pyongyang declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and fired a record-breaking number of missiles, Seoul and Washington have stepped up joint exercises and redeployed US strategic assets in the region. Stepped up.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)