PYONGYANG, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing joint military exercises conducted respectively by the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan with the United States are bringing "new danger of war" to the Korean Peninsula and the rest of Northeast Asia, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Tuesday in a commentary.
The article said the ROK military and the U.S. Forces Korea kicked off on Monday the large-scale Hoguk exercises that will run through Oct. 30, with the ROK announcing that the Hoguk exercises would intensify cooperation and actual war simulation in the spheres of ground, sea and air.
The KCNA called the statement a public revelation of the drill's "aggressive and provocative" nature.
The commentary lashed out at another large-scale joint military drill, which also started on Monday between Japan and the United States, noting that the drill, codenamed Keen Sword, will involve the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group, while the U.S. new-type anti-ship missile system NMESIS will be deployed in Japan for the first time.
The ROK and Japan are going to stand at the forefront of a "proxy war" against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and other countries in the region under the backstage manipulation of Washington aimed at forming the Asia-Pacific version of NATO, it said.
The DPRK will continue to remind the enemy forces of its will to defend sovereignty through ceaseless upgrading, bolstering and responsible demonstration of its reliable war deterrent for self-defence, said the article. ■