The statement denounced the U.S.-south Korea Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military drills as war drills against the DPRK.

The on-going war drills with the involvement of weapons of mass destruction not only escalate the tension on the Korean peninsula but gravely threaten the global peace, the statement noted, and continued:

The joint military rehearsal assumes more dangerous nature as it was kicked off following the decision on THAAD deployment in south Korea.

The U.S. advertised THAAD deployment as the one to "protect" south Korea from the DPRK's "threat", but it is aimed to round off the siege to China in reality.

The U.S. decision on THAAD deployment in south Korea escalates a serious arms race.

The DPRK has advanced several reasonable proposals on replacing the armistice agreement with a peace treaty to improve the relations with the U.S., but the U.S. turned down all of them.

We demand the U.S. stop the provocative war drills, rescind the decision on THAAD deployment and replace the armistice agreement with a peace treaty.