Pyongyang, August 22 (KCNA) — A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea issued the following press statement on Thursday:
Dangerous and unusual military moves are now on the horizon, which would trigger a new cold war on the Korean peninsula and in the region.
One such move is the introduction yet again by the south Korean authorities of “F-35A” stealth fighters from the United States shortly after the end of joint military exercises, despite our repeated warnings.
This act of continuously introducing the cutting-edge lethal equipment is a grave provocation that has openly denied the joint declarations and the military agreement between the north and the south of Korea, and as such, it only serves to graphically reveal again the hypocrisy and double-dealing conduct of the south Korean authorities who are noisily talking about making “efforts to do things more useful yet less harmful to dialogue.”
Escalating hostile military moves by the United States and the south Korean authorities are reducing the dynamics of dialogue for building a lasting and durable peace on the Korean peninsula, and this compels us to weigh a realistic way of turning our attention more to strengthening the physical deterrence.
Furthermore, the reality – that the United States has recently test-fired the intermediate-range cruise missile and plans to deploy a large quantity of offensive military equipment such as “F-35” stealth fighters and “F-16V” fighters in Japan and other surrounding areas of the Korean peninsula, thus adding to the regional arms race and confrontation – calls for our greatest vigilance.
We have underlined time and again that the joint military exercises and the build-up of armed forces in south Korea are dangerous acts detrimental to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.
We remain unchanged in our position to resolve all issues in a peaceful manner through dialogue and negotiation. However, dialogue accompanied by military threats is of no interest to us. -0-
