• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Spokesman for DPRK FM Blasts "Joint Naval Exercise" to Be Hosted by Japan

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

    Pyongyang, August 7 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry Saturday answered a question put by KCNA as regards the fact that the United States has instigated Japan to stage a "joint naval exercise" against the DPRK. He said:
    The Japanese government announced on August 3 that it would sponsor a "joint naval exercise" off Tokyo Bay in October according to PSI.
    It is expected that mainly PSI members will take part in the exercise and other countries will be invited to it.
    It is clear that the exercise to be staged under the pretext of "checking the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) on the sea" is a product of the Bush administration's sinister attempt to escalate its policy to isolate and blockade the DPRK.
    The U.S. has so far staged 10 "joint naval exercises" in different parts of the world after setting out PSI. It seeks to "demonstrate" the international cooperation targeted against the DPRK by staging this exercise in the waters close to it.
    Through the projected maneuver it also seeks to push forward the PSI system in real earnest and increase its maneuverability in a bid to focus it on the DPRK and escalate the policy to isolate and blockade it by drawing its neighboring countries into the exercise.
    But it is a gross miscalculation for the U.S. to think that it can frighten the DPRK with such threat and blackmail.
    The DPRK has already solemnly declared that it would regard any sanctions and blockade against the DPRK as a proclamation of a war.
    The present situation where the U.S. hostile policy towards the DPRK has reached a dangerous phase proves the justice of the measures taken by it to steadily bolster all the means for self-defence including the nuclear deterrent force.
    It has now become clear that the U.S. seeks to solve the nuclear issue between the DPRK and the U.S. by force, not through dialogue and negotiations. This compels the DPRK to take corresponding counter-measures.
    It cannot but take a serious view of the "joint naval exercise" the Japanese authorities plan to sponsor at the instigation of the U.S.
    Japan's behavior diametrically runs counter to the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration in which both sides committed themselves not to take any action against each other's security.
    There can be no state relations without mutual confidence.
    Double-faced attitude of the Japanese authorities resorting to the anti-DPRK racket, toeing the U.S. line, while talking about the implementation of the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration and the normalization of the relations between them only heighten the vigilance among servicepersons and the people of the DPRK.
    An attitude towards the exercise will precisely mean an attitude towards the DPRK as this provocative maneuver is targeted against the DPRK. The DPRK will closely watch the development of a situation.