DPRK urges Seoul not to repeat war maneuvers

PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday urged the Republic of Korea (ROK) not to repeat annual war maneuvers with the United States, which have driven north-south relations into the "worst phase," the official KCNA news agency reported.

The Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) joint military exercise was "the most dangerous nuclear war maneuver for invading the north, to which the tailored deterrence strategy aimed to make a preemptive nuclear strike at the DPRK was applied for the first time," a spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement carried by the KCNA.

The DPRK accused ROK of seeking dialogue on the one hand and frantically conducting war maneuvers on the other, adding Seoul's inconsistency between words and actions has revealed the repeatedly mentioned "dialogue" and "trust" rhetoric are but a smokescreen to blur public attention.

The US-ROK combined military drills disturb the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and hinder the improvement of inter-Korean ties, the statement said.

The DPRK also asked ROK authorities to clarify their stance on whether to opt for dialogue or confrontation.

ROK and the United States on Thursday ended the UFG exercise which kicked off on Aug 18, a day earlier than scheduled, in what appeared to appease anger of the DPRK.

The UFG is an annual joint military exercise between the ROK and the United States.

The General Staff of Korean People's Army said in a statement one day ahead of the UFG launch that the war maneuver was pushing the Korean Peninsula to an extremely critical situation and the DPRK in response would carry out more intensive military exercises on a regular basis.