Rodong Sinmun Monday says this in a signed article.

Referring to the fact that the DPRK Foreign Ministry proposed the parties to the Armistice Agreement that talks be held as early as possible to replace the AA with a peace treaty this year, 60 years after the outbreak of the Korean War, the article goes on:

The situation on the peninsula is inching close to an unimaginably serious phase despite the sincere efforts of the DPRK.

As a matter of fact, the situation prevailing on the peninsula is so dangerous that an accidental case may develop into an all-out war and then to a nuclear war.

The DPRK and the U.S. are still technically at war.

The AA which had already been reduced to a dead paper provides the U.S. with conditions for starting a war in the peninsula any time.

It is the basic way of averting such a serious development to replace the outdated AA with a peace treaty as early as possible to establish a solid peace-keeping regime on the peninsula.

In order to bring the process for the denuclearization on the peninsula back on a normal track, it is necessary to pay primary attention to building confidence between the DPRK and the U.S., the main parties concerned with the nuclear issue, and to this end it is necessary to conclude, to begin with, a peace treaty for putting an end to the state of armistice, the root cause of the hostile relations between the two countries.

The conclusion of a peace treaty is not an issue of one side giving benefit to the other side or making reward to it.

It is a practical political issue of making something beneficial to the countries concerned including the DPRK and the U.S. and the international community and contributing to ensuring peace and security in Asia and the rest of the world.

If the U.S. truly stands for settling the issue of the Korean Peninsula, there will be no problem in concluding a peace treaty and the above-said process will make rapid progress.

The U.S. would be well advised to honestly respond to the DPRK's fair and aboveboard proposal for the conclusion of a peace treaty as early as possible, not insisting on its policy of "strategic patience" the weakness and absurdity of which had been brought to light in reality.