US Blasted for Their Military Provocation

The Director of Press of the Institute for American Studies of the DPRK Foreign Ministry, gave an answer to a question raised by KCNA on January 23 as regards the increased level of military threat by the United States to the DPRK.

A rare atmosphere of easing tension on the Korean peninsula is now being created as the inter-Korean talks are held on the DPRK’s participation in the 23rd Winter Olympics. On the contrary, the United States is making extremely unusual military moves targeting the DPRK, the director said, and went on:

The US has moved the strike group of nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Carl Vinson into the waters around the Korean peninsula and plans to dispatch soon another strike group of nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Stennis under the pretext of countering a possible "provocation" of the DPRK during the Winter Olympics.

Meanwhile, the US is going to send a special operation unit to south Korea under the pretext of "anti-terror" during the Winter Olympics, and it has made public that it would conduct the test launch of ICBM "Minuteman-3" around February.

Such provocative military manpeuvres of the US are acts that throw a wet blanket over the atmosphere of improving inter-Korean relations and defusing tension on the Korean peninsula hard-won by the DPRK’s initiative and magnanimity, and these cannot be justified by any means.

The recent continued military moves of the US are based on a cunning scheme to block the improvement of inter-Korean relations by inveigling the DPRK into taking hard-line countermeasures and to impute the blame of increasing tension on the latter.

The DPRK cherishes peace but never begs for it, and it will take resolute countermeasures against any acts of destroying peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.

In case the situation on the Korean peninsula falls again into a vortex of aggravation due to the reckless military moves of the US, full responsibility for the consequence will rest with the US.

KCNA