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

This is a sheer lie to twist the situation.

The trite method employed by the imperialists while perpetrating aggression and war is to brand their rival as "provocateur".

The U.S. ignited the Iraqi War and Afghan War on the basis of the groundless story about "threat".

Looking back on history, the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces floated fictions about "provocations by the north" and "threat" whenever they escalate the moves for confrontation and war on the Korean Peninsula.

If there be any provocation and threat on the peninsula, they are nothing but provocations and threat of war against the DPRK by the U.S. and south Korean puppet forces.

Clear are the aims sought by them in branding the DPRK as "a provocateur." They seek to evade the responsibility for the present tension on the peninsula, justify their "sanctions" against the DPRK and their moves for a war against it and tarnish its dignified image.

They had better stop playing sleight of hand.

Now is the time to decisively settle accounts with the enemies as they perpetrated provocations against the DPRK.

The enemies forced the DPRK to nullify the Korean Armistice Agreement and all the agreements on non-aggression, placing the Korean Peninsula in a state of war.

The army and people of the DPRK are confident of the victory in this grim revolutionary war.