North Korea’s foreign ministry has accused the United States of “deliberately” exacerbating tensions with its joint military exercises with South Korea, the North’s Korean Central Agency reported on Tuesday.
“Despite our repeated warnings, the United States is deliberately continuing to exacerbate the situation,” a statement from the North Korean Foreign Ministry said, stressing that “the recent joint air exercises clearly show that the US plan to use nuclear weapons against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is being pushed forward at the highest level.” actual war.”
The North Korean accusation comes after Seoul and Washington announced, on Friday, large-scale joint military exercises from March 13 to March 23.
Previous joint exercises between South Korea and America
And the South Korean Ministry of Defense published a video, on Monday, that it said showed fighter jets belonging to the air forces of the two countries conducting exercises off the coast of the Korean Peninsula.
Washington and Seoul insist that their exercises are defensive, but Pyongyang considers them as exercises for invading its territory or overthrowing its regime.
“We deeply regret the irresponsible and worrisome show of force” involving the United States and South Korea, “which continue to push the situation on the Korean peninsula into an unpredictable situation,” the North Korean news agency said, quoting the foreign ministry’s statement.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry statement stated that Pyongyang calls for “the immediate cessation of hostile military actions that destabilize peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”
And the ministry continued, “If the serious military provocations of the United States and South Korea continue … there is no guarantee that a violent physical conflict will not break out on the Korean Peninsula in which huge armed forces from both sides will face each other.”
On Sunday, state media reported that Pyongyang called on the United Nations to urge Seoul and Washington to stop their joint military exercises.
Relations between the two Koreas deteriorated to their lowest levels in years after North Korea declared itself a nuclear state, while leader Kim called for a “massive” increase in weapons production, including tactical nuclear weapons.
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul are at their lowest point in years. In the year 2022, North Korea confirmed that its status as a nuclear power is “irreversible”, while North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for a “steady” increase in the production of weapons, especially tactical nuclear ones.
North Korea tested dozens of banned missiles in 2022, sparking tension among its neighbors in East Asia.
