In response to his call, the DPRK National Defence Commission proposed to the south Korean authorities taking practical measures for favorable atmosphere for improved north-south relations and the nation's security and peace.

The proposal, prompted by the DPRK's patriotic will to defuse the military tension, avert danger of a war and ensure lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, is now commanding full support from all the fellow countrymen in the north and the south and abroad.

Peace is what all members of the Korean nation have long desired. They all want peace, not a war, and co-existence and common interests of the north and the south, not division and confrontation.

The Korean nation suffered untold disasters from the 1950-1953 Korean War, enforced by the U.S. imperialists, and has been in the constant war danger for decades. So, peace is more precious to it than any other nation.

Peace is an indispensable prerequisite to the Korean nation's existence and development, and war exercises are a main factor of threatening its existence. If a war breaks out on the peninsula again, no one can get rid of being a victim to this terrible war that will endanger the nation's existence itself.

Peace is a fundamental guarantee for the country's reunification and prosperity common to the nation.

Without peace, is it impossible to expect the reconciliation and cooperation between the north and the south and their reunification as well as the nation's rosy future.

Only peaceful circumstance can help all Koreans in the north and the south and abroad build up the base of life for the nation better and achieve the national prosperity for all ages.

However, the U.S. and the south Korean authorities, turning aside the requirements of this stark reality, have staged the anti-DPRK nuclear war exercises from the start of the year, massively deploying nuclear arms on the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity. They are going to launch the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military maneuvers late in February.

In case such maneuvers lead to a skirmish and then develop into an all-out war, only the Korean nation will suffer deadly disasters from it and the Korean Peninsula will be reduced to ruins.

Defending peace for the nation's security and prosperity can never go together with the war exercises that may entail its extermination.

An end should be put to the war exercises of the U.S. and south Korea to ensure the lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and protect the nation's destiny and security.

It is none other than the Koreans who will lead in a responsible manner the anti-war struggle to defend peace from the prevailing danger of war on the peninsula. No one can protect peace in this land on behalf of the Korean nation.

All Koreans at home and abroad who love the country and the nation should turn out as one in the struggle for peace.