The chief of the Foreign News Section of the Department of Press and Information of the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued on January 26 a press statement titled "The US and the ROK can never evade the responsibility for the aggravation of regional situation to be entailed by an increase in the visibility of military provocations", which said:

These days, the US and the ROK are perpetrating serious acts of military provocation targeting the DPRK one after another, adding a danger variable to the unstable security environment on the Korean peninsula and in the region.

The US and the ROK staged Ssangmae joint air drill in the Wonju air force base from January 21 to 24 under the pretext of increasing the capability for cooperation between the two sides in air operations.

Earlier, the hostile forces conducted a large joint firing drill aimed at "early eradication" of the long-range artillery fire system of the DPRK from January 14 to 16, and the US Department of Defense made public a decision on a large-scale arms sale to the ROK on January 22.

After raising the first curtain of this year with the start of the US-Japan-ROK three-party joint air drill with strategic bombers involved, the US and the ROK are staging various war drills targeting the DPRK almost every day. This is a grave challenge to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region.

The DPRK Foreign Ministry is closely watching the military provocations by the US and the ROK escalating the tension on the Korean peninsula and seriously warns them that such a move will meet with a reflective counteraction.

The security environment on the Korean peninsula and in the region is getting ever more dangerous as the days go by, because the US seeks superiority in power through the constant expansion of the military alliance system and the enforcement of joint military drills of various kinds.

The reality stresses that the DPRK should counter the US with the toughest counteraction from A to Z as long as it refuses the DPRK sovereignty, security and interests and this is the best option in dealing with the US.

The DPRK will not permit the imbalance of power imposed by the military nexus between the US and the ROK, but take the toughest counteraction to defend the sovereign right, security and interests of the state and thoroughly guarantee peace and stability in the region.

The US and the ROK can never evade the responsibility for the aggravation of the regional situation to be entailed by the increase in the visibility of their military nexus and provocations.

KCNA