Joint US-South Korea Exercises ‘Root Cause’ of Tensions in Korea: Pyongyang

The Deputy Permanent Representative of the DPRK to the United Nations said that the large scale war games, held in South Korea, are the root cause of the escalating tension on the Korean peninsula.

UNITED NATIONS, January 14 (Sputnik) – The military drills that South Korea holds jointly with the United States, threaten to cause grave destabilization on the peninsula, An Myong Hun, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the United Nations, has announced.

"The large scale war games, held in South Korea, are the root cause of the escalating tension on the Korean peninsula, and the danger of the nuclear war, facing the Korean nation. It is needless to say there can be no real trustful dialogue, nor improved inter Korea relations in such a gruesome atmosphere in which war exercises are staged," An Myong Hun said Tuesday.

According to the representative, DPRK leader Kim Jung Un has been devoted to the issue of national reunification and to improving relations between North and South Korea, while the United States has "intervened in dialogue and cooperation between the north and south".

The North Korean representative stressed that in order for a peaceful environment to be created on the Korean peninsula "the largest scale war exercises undertaken every year in South Korea, jointly by the US and South Korea, must stop immediately".

"We the government of the DPRK propose to the US to temporarily suspend the joint military exercises, which it conducts every year in South Korea. And if this is the case, we will respond by temporarily suspending nuclear tests which the US is concerned about," An Myong Hun said.

If the proposal is put in practice in 2015, "anything will be possible this year at the Korean peninsula", according to the DPRK representative.

North and South Korea are formally in a state of war, as no peace treaty was signed after the Korean War of 1950-1953. South Korea and the United States carry out annual joint military exercises, aimed at testing readiness to counter a potential invasion from the North.

Meanwhile DPRK declared itself a nuclear power in 2005 and has since conducted several nuclear tests. The country's nuclear program has triggered mass protests from the international community.