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KCNA Slams U.S.-South Korea Joint Military Exercises in S. Korea

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

    Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- The present situation on the Korean peninsula remains dangerous owing to the reckless moves of the U.S. warhawks and their followers to unleash a war of aggression against the DPRK so that a nuclear war may break there anytime. The United States started a military exercise dubbed Freedom Banner 04 with the mobilization of hundreds of combat vehicles, tanks and armored cars for landing belonging to a flotilla of the U.S. Marine Corps and thousands of its soldiers at Phyongthaek Port on March 8. On March 22, RSOI and Foal Eagle joint military exercises began with the involvement of huge armed forces including at least 40,000-strong U.S. forces occupying south Korea, GIs deployed in the Asia-Pacific region and the south Korean army. Timed to coincide with these maneuvers, a joint military exercise of the U.S. and south Korean marine corps codenamed a "plan for combined rehearsal" is now underway in the area close to the Demilitarized Zone of the Military Demarcation Line.
    Such war maneuvers simultaneously going on in the sky, land and sea of south Korea are, to all intents and purposes, very adventurous exercises under the simulated conditions of preemptive nuclear strikes at the DPRK.
    Involved in them are about 5,500 U.S. marines and over 3,000 GIs of other services deployed in the Hawaii, Okinawa and Iwakuni bases. Aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk with some 70 fighters and 5,500 combatants aboard and Aegis destroyers having precision strike capacity and equipped with a missile interceptor system and a weapons system for the use of depleted uranium bombs have also arrived in south Korea.
    The U.S. is describing these military exercises as "annual events" and "drills of defensive nature" in an attempt to cover up their aggressive nature. But they are precisely the largest- ever nuclear war exercises targeted against the DPRK in the light of the scale of GI participation, the level of the equipment involved and the selection of the operational theatre.
    Countless joint military exercises of the U.S. forces and the south Korean army were held in south Korea in the past. But never have the Marine Corps called most elite unit in the U.S., Striker Unit known as a U.S. rapid task brigade, and uptodate war means been simultaneously mobilized for several military drills in the area close to the DMZ and Seoul area as this time.
    No wonder, foreign media viewed the current war maneuvers as the largest since 1994. The U.S. announced its plan to stage these military exercises right after the end of the six-way talks. This is a challenge to the Korean people, the international community and the countries concerned in their sincere efforts for a peaceful negotiated solution to the nuclear issue.
    Whenever an opportunity presented itself, high-ranking officials of the U.S. administration talked about a "peaceful solution" to the nuclear issue, asserting that the U.S. is ready to push forward the work to settle the nuclear issue peacefully and the U.S. will not attack north Korea. But the situation prevailing on the Korean peninsula clearly proves that the U.S. talk about "dialogue" and "peace" is no more than a hypocritical window-dressing to conceal its aggressive nature.
    The ulterior intention of the U.S. is not to settle the nuclear issue peacefully but gain time behind the scene of the talks and finally bring down the DPRK by force of arms.
    There is no guarantee that the current war maneuvers staged with the mobilization of armed forces huge enough to ignite a war will not go over to a war against the DPRK.
    Dialogue and confrontation are incompatible.
    The DPRK neither want a war nor avoid it.
    The army and people of the DPRK will not slacken vigilance against the U.S. hostile acts even a moment but take strong self-defensive steps if it threatens the supreme security of the DPRK.