Rodong Sinmun Friday observes in a bylined commentary in this regard:

The recent joint naval maneuvers were staged to create atmosphere of pressure upon the DPRK in the wake of the UN Security Council's adoption of the unjust "resolution on sanctions" against it. This was a grave military provocation aimed at a surprise preemptive nuclear attack on the DPRK.

What should not be overlooked is the fact that the U.S. nuclear powered submarine San Francisco equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of thousands of kilometers was involved in the joint exercises.

It is a well-known fact that the nuclear submarine was a main offensive means in the Iraqi and Afghan wars. It had been forward-deployed on the Korean Peninsula at a time when the standoff between the DPRK and the U.S. was most acute in the last century. It reappeared in the waters off south Korea 19 years later to take part in the war maneuvers staged under the simulated conditions of invasion of the DPRK. This brought into bolder relief the provocative nature and danger of the recent saber-rattling.

Anti-submarine, anti-warship, anti-air drills, naval mobile and live-shell firing exercises were included in the war exercises. This suggests they were not a simple "demonstration of armed forces" but drills for a preemptive nuclear attack on the DPRK.

The U.S. and south Korean authorities wantonly violated the sovereignty of the DPRK by abusing the name of the UN. However, they are escalating the military provocations, talking about "additional provocation" and "warning" like a guilty party filing the suit first, pushing the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war.

The prevailing situation goes to prove again that it is necessary to settle accounts with the U.S. and the Lee Myung Bak group of south Korea with arms, not with words.