DPRK military says denuclearization process will halt
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The denuclearization process in the Korean Peninsula will halt because of the U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises, said the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People's Army of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday.
"The process for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will naturally come to a standstill and the DPRK bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense given that the saber rattling is proven to be nuclear war exercises and maneuvers for a war of aggression against the DPRK in its nature," said the mission in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.
"It is an inviolable right of the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK for self-defense to counter with powerful nuclear deterrent the U.S. nuclear offensive means threatening the territorial waters and air and land of the DPRK on account of exercises," said the statement.
"The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK will be left with no option but to exercise merciless physical force as the rival is set to do harm to the DPRK," it added.
The military forces of the DPRK will no longer be bound to the Armistice Agreement after the Korean War in the 1950s and the agreement on non-aggression between the DPRK and South Korea, said the statement.
"There is no reason whatsoever for the DPRK to remain bound to the AA (Armistice Agreement) and the non-aggression agreement now that the other belligerent party scrapped the AA and the other dialogue partner reneged on the non-aggression agreement," said the statement.
It said all military dialogues with the United States and with South Korea will be suspended as long as the joint exercises go on.
The United States and South Korea would begin military exercises codenamed "Key Resolve and Foal Eagle" on Monday, according to the KCNA.
Massively involved in the exercises will be more than 18,000-strong forces including over 10,000 U.S. troops present in South Korea and ultra-modern military hardware as well as army corps-level, fleet command-level and flying corps-level units of the South Korean army and even civilian forces, the KCNA said.
