A spokesman for the Disarmament and Peace Institute of the DPRK Foreign Ministry in a statement on Wednesday said this is sheer sophism and a crafty artifice to cover up the U.S. aggressive nature and mislead world public opinion.

The statement said:

The U.S.-south Korea "mutual defense treaty" which the U.S. cites as a ground claiming the "legality" of the joint military drills, is an illegal document quite contrary to the Korean Armistice Agreement.

The AA stipulates the articles calling for holding a political conference within three months after the armistice agreement is signed and becomes effective and negotiating the questions of the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Korea and the peaceful settlement of the Korean question, etc.

However, the U.S. concluded the "mutual defense treaty" with the south Korean puppet forces before the period for convening the political conference stipulated in the AA.

The U.S. has persistently staged joint military drills aiming at the invasion against the DPRK with south Korean puppet forces after freezing its military occupation of south Korea in violation of the AA.

This is not only the total abrogation of the key paragraph of the armistice agreement which calls for insuring a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved but an open declaration of a war against the DPRK.

The U.S. stands against the DPRK's proposal for concluding a peace treaty, an illegal act in wanton violation of not only the paragraph dealing with ensuring the peaceful settlement of the Korean question but also the purpose and principle of the UN Charter which calls for bringing about by peaceful means … adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace.

The purpose sought by the U.S. is to keep the "mutual defence treaty" which it signed with the south Korean puppet forces and put the whole Korean peninsula under its control with the treaty as a legal ground and thus realize its hegemonic Asia-Pacific strategy.

The U.S. claims the arms buildup in south Korea and joint military exercises are also to protect the U.S. forces in case of contingency but it is just a far cry.

If the U.S. is truly concerned about damage to be done to its forces in case of a war on the peninsula, it can just withdraw them from south Korea.

The removal of cancer-like U.S. forces would create a peaceful environment as it would clear the Korean peninsula and the region of the source of war.

But at present there is no institutional mechanism for checking a thermonuclear war on the Korean peninsula and the U.S. nuclear threat to the DPRK is steadily increasing.

Under the prevailing situation the DPRK will further bolster its nuclear deterrence both qualitatively and quantitatively and exercise with dignity its right to self-defence as a sovereign state.

The statement said the U.S. reckless nuclear war exercises are a suicidal act little short of digging its own grave.