KCNA Blasts U.S. and S. Korea for Staging Large-scale Military Drill against DPRK

Pyongyang, May 16 (KCNA) -- KCNA made public the following report on May 16: The south Korean authorities, together with the U.S., has been staging the large-scale "2018 Max Thunder" joint air drill throughout south Korea since May 11 in a bid to make a preemptive air strike at the DPRK and win the air. Involved in the drill are more than 100 fighters of various missions including B-52 strategic nuclear bombers and F-22 Raptor stealth fighters of the U.S. forces. The drill is to last till May 25, under the supervision of the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces in south Korea and the south Korean air force. Public opinions at home and abroad comment that the maneuver is the largest-ever and a reflection of the invariable stand of the U.S. and south Korea to persist in the "maximum pressure and sanctions" against the DPRK. The DPRK-targeted drill across south Korea is an undisguised challenge to the Panmunjom Declaration and a deliberate military provocation to the trend of the favorably developing situation on the Korean Peninsula. The north and the south of Korea solemnly stated in the declaration that a new peace era was ushered in and reached an agreement on making joint efforts to defuse the acute military tensions on the peninsula and substantially ease the danger of war. The U.S., too, expressed full support to it. However, even before the ink of the historic April 27 Declaration got dry, the south Korean authorities and the U.S. started such a drill against the DPRK, reacting to all the peace-loving efforts and good intentions shown by the DPRK with rude and wicked provocation and arousing serious concern and disappointment among all the fellow countrymen and the international community wanting the declaration to be implemented. If the U.S. and the south Korean authorities regard the phase of improving inter-Korean ties and the DPRK-U.S. dialogue provided by the proactive and broadminded efforts and measures of the DPRK as something allowed any time and any hour, then they are sadly mistaken. The south Korean authorities, in particular, resorted to such improper acts quite contrary to the promise to make efforts for the peace, prosperity and reunification of the peninsula together with the north and are allowing even human scum to brazenly hurl mud at the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and its system and play down the Panmunjom Declaration at the building of the "National Assembly". There is a limit in showing goodwill and offering opportunity. The historic Panmunjom Declaration cannot be implemented by the unilateral efforts of a single party, and it can result in a good fruition only when the two parties create favorable conditions and climate by pooling their efforts. We cannot but take a step of suspending the north-south high-level talks scheduled on May 16 under the prevailing seriously awful situation that a mad-cap north-targeted war and confrontation racket is being kicked up in south Korea. The south Korean authorities, lost to all senses, should be held wholly accountable for the scuttled north-south high-level talks and the difficulties and obstacles in the way of the north-south relations. The U.S. will have to think twice about the fate of the DPRK-U.S. summit now on high agenda before a provocative military racket against the DPRK in league with the south Korean authorities. We will closely watch the ensuing behavior of the U.S. and the south Korean authorities. -0-