North Korea might reconsider its earlier steps toward denuclearization in the wake of the US-South Korean military drills, the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2019) North Korea might reconsider its earlier steps toward denuclearization in the wake of the US-South Korean military drills, the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday."We have already warned several times that the joint military exercises would block progress in the DPRK-U.S. relations and the inter-Korean relations and bring us into reconsideration of our earlier major steps. There is no such a law that one side might be allowed to walk away from its commitment and our side only should be bound by the commitment ... The prevailing situation is dramatically dampening down our desire for implementing the DPRK-U.S. agreements and the inter-Korean agreements, which also affects the prospect of future dialogue," the spokesperson's statement, published by the KCNA news agency, read.
According to the diplomat, Seoul and Washington "staged all kinds of aggressive war exercises targeting" Pyongyang even after the US-North Korea summit in Singapore.
"Recently, F-35A stealth fighters were brought into south Korea and the U.S. nuclear strategic submarine Oklahoma City came into port of Pusan. In the meantime, the U.S. is pushing forward the move to introduce even high-altitude reconnaissance drone Global Hawk into south Korea. All these put us on our guard," the spokesperson says.
The spokesperson stressed that all the mentioned facts showed that the US and South Korean authorities "do not have political will at all" to implement the joint statements on improving bilateral relations with North Korea, while continuing to see Pyongyang "as an enemy."
"As the U.S. and South Korean authorities take every possible occasion to claim that the joint military exercises are 'defensive' in nature, an 'essential element' for combat preparedness, etc, so we are compelled to develop, test and deploy the powerful physical means essential for national defence," he warned.
The United States and South Korea began their annual military exercises on Monday. The exercises were kept low-key after North Korea warned the drills could derail nuclear negotiations, stars and Stripes reported. Earlier in the day, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korea had twice launched unidentified projectiles into the Sea of Japan.
