A commentary of Rodong Sinmun Monday terms this sheer sophism.

The tension escalating in Northeast Asia is attributable to the U.S. provocative military moves and scramble of regional big powers for hegemony, the commentary notes, and goes on:

It is the U.S. calculation that only when it holds control of Northeast Asia, can it put the whole Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world under its control. There is a potential rival which it deems can challenge it here. That is China.

The U.S. is pursuing the strategy to militarily encircle and contain China.

China is also aware that the U.S. is seeking to contain it by putting military pressure on it. China is girding itself for any contingency, thinking that THAAD the U.S. is going to deploy in south Korea is targeted against China.

The military stand-off between China and the U.S. aimed to contain the rival by force is escalating arms race in Northeast Asia and sparking off new Cold War there.

Military conflicts between China and Japan are also acute.

China-Japan relations are beset with a great danger in which even a small accidental event may spill over into a large-scale military conflict. This is rendering the regional situation tense.

Such being a hard fact, it is quite illogical to call the self-defensive measures taken by the DPRK to defend its sovereignty and peace on the peninsula a factor of escalating tension.