DPRK slams Washington for mulling joint naval exercises with Seoul

A foreign ministry spokesman of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Thursday denounced the United States for considering a naval drill with its South Korean ally and again urged Washington to sign a peace treaty with the DPRK.

The spokesman said that the joint naval war game, which will engage the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, "is an open challenge to the fair and aboveboard proposal of the DPRK and unanimous desire of the peace-loving people of the world."

At the 70th United Nations General Assembly which concluded in late September, DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong underscored the urgent need to sign a peace treaty in place of the armistice agreement after the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Earlier this month, Pyongyang reiterated its call for the signing of a peace treaty with the United States, saying that such a treaty helps keep tense situations in check and build long-lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

But the United States turned down the offer Tuesday when U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim said the U.S. side has no interest in discussing a peace treaty with the socialist country but regards the nuclear issue as a top priority.

The DPRK spokesman, however, attributed the failure of dialogue on denuclearization of the peninsula to the United States' "ceaseless nuclear blackmail and nuclear war exercises against the DPRK."

"The reality proved how premature the discussion on the denuclearization of the peninsula was and how urgent the conclusion of a peace treaty between the DPRK and the United States is," he said. Endi