DPRK lashes out at military drill by S. Korea, calling it "grave provocation"

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 10:32, May 08, 2020

PYONGYANG, May 8 (Xinhua) -- A military spokesperson of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) lashed out at the recent military exercise carried out by Seoul, calling it a "reckless move" and "grave provocation," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.

"This is a grave provocation which can never be overlooked and this situation demands a necessary reaction from us," KCNA quoted the spokesperson as saying.

According to the report, the South Korean military staged a joint military drill on Wednesday "in the hotspot waters in the West Sea of Korea" with the involvement of more than 20 fighters and storm boats.

Such a reckless move does not help the efforts to defuse tension on the Korean Peninsula, KCNA said, adding that "everything is now going back to the starting point before the north-south summit meeting in 2018."

The DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met in the border village of Panmunjom on April 27, 2018.

The two sides signed the Panmunjom Declaration, agreeing to complete denuclearization and begin a new era of peace. The Kim-Moon meeting was the third inter-Korea summit and the first in 11 years.