U.S. Is to Blame for Escalation of Tension on Korean Peninsula

Pyongyang, May 26 (KCNA) -- A researcher of the Disarmament and Peace Institute of the DPRK Foreign Ministry made public a commentary titled "Who Is to Blame for Escalation of Tensions on Korean Peninsula" on Friday. He in the commentary denounced the U.S. for having staged the madcap 2018 Max Thunder joint air combat drills to be the largest against the DPRK from May 11 through 25 and thus ruptured the north-south high-level talks. Branding the U.S.-south Korea joint military exercises as an open challenge to the Panmunjom declaration the north and the south of Korea agreed and made public to the world, the commentary said: Clear is the ultimate purpose sought by the U.S. in continuously holding joint military exercises going against the atmosphere of détente created on the Korean peninsula. That is to further spur the formation of the U.S.-Japan-south Korea triangular military alliance and maintain a military edge in Asia-Pacific. This is clearly evidenced by the involvement of B-52 strategic bombers in the 2018 Max Thunder and the original plan to hold it as the U.S.-Japan-south Korea combined air drill involving fighters of Japan and south Korea. Last year there were a total of four U.S.-Japan-south Korea missile warning drills under the manipulation of the U.S., an indication that the U.S. has long tried to inveigle Japan into the U.S.-south Korea joint military drill to have Japan form military nexus with south Korea. All facts clearly prove once again that the joint military exercises which the U.S. holds in the Korean peninsula are the root cause of the escalation of tension in the region and that they have something to do with the U.S. Asia domination strategy. The international community is required to see with awakened eyes that the U.S. and south Korean warlike forces have escalated the situation through military provocations like the joint military exercises whenever important agreements were reached between the north and the south, and to see who really stems the trend toward peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula. As long as the U.S. and south Korea continue to hold joint military exercises, the sky over the Korean peninsula will not be clear even a single day and it would be hard to guarantee the present trend toward détente and the peace and stability in the region. -0-