SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday condemned the second meeting of the U.S.-South Korea Nuclear Consultative Group which escalates military tensions in the Korean Peninsula.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense of the DPRK lashed out at the two countries for holding the meeting late last week in Washington, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
They announced that the two sides would complete the "guidelines on nuclear strategic plan and its operation" and the establishment of "extended deterrence system" by the middle of next year and conduct a nuclear operation drill during the large-scale joint military exercises Ulji Freedom Shield in August of next year, the statement said.
Denouncing the U.S.-South Korea moves "an open declaration on nuclear confrontation," it accused them of "maximizing the tensions in and around the peninsula with hostile and provocative acts against the DPRK."
In addition, the DPRK slammed the U.S. deployment of its nuclear-powered Missouri attack submarine into the peninsula immediately after the Washington meeting.
The United States and South Korea announced the establishment of the Nuclear Consultative Group in the Washington Declaration in April this year to strengthen the so-called "extended deterrence," and convened its first meeting in Seoul in July. ■
