The chief of the External Policy Office of the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on October 26 released the following press statement, titled "The US will be held wholly responsible for pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to an uncontrollable state":

Amid the extreme tension lingering on the Korean peninsula due to the recent crucial provocation of the ROK against the DPRK, the US more openly reveals its attempt at military confrontation against the DPRK.

From October 21, the US, together with the ROK military warmongers, has staged a large-scale joint air drill Freedom Flag by drawing the Australian Air Force into the Korean peninsula. And it has resorted to extreme confrontation hysteria, openly claiming that the drill is aimed at the DPRK.

The US and the ROK are trumpeting that they would master the compound operation capability by mobilizing fighters and drones for the first time and conduct exercises for increasing the survivability in airborne infiltration into an enemy's position through the large-scale joint air drill integrating the annual combined joint formation drill and the joint air drill Vigilant Defense.

The military drill of the US and the ROK, which assumes clearer offensive and aggressive character in scale, content and nature, is a very dangerous military provocation aimed at preemptive and surprise attack against the DPRK.

The US is staging "joint air re-supply drill" and "joint river-crossing drill" with the ROK and a large-scale marine corps' joint military drill Keen Sword with Japan. At the same time, it is further escalating the military tension by dispatching the super-large nuclear carrier George Washington task force around the Korean peninsula.

We strongly denounce the US hostile act of resorting to reckless military demonstration with its allies, not content with the present political and military tension on the Korean peninsula which is exposed to the danger of a touch-and-go explosion, as a clear threat and a grave provocation to the security of the region.

The US can never cover up its criminal nature with any rhetoric as it is driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to an uncontrollable state.

It is a fact known to the world that who gave the backing of military cooperation to the ROK in its committing illegal and grave provocation of openly infiltrating military attack means into the airspace of a sovereign state.

The DPRK keeps in sight the dark shadow of the US which is hidden behind the fearless provocative acts of the ROK.

The US has patronized the ROK's scattering of political agitation rubbish over the territory of the DPRK as the "freedom of expression" and instigated the bellicose hysteria of its ally with frequent deployment of strategic assets and ceaseless joint military drills. The US confrontation history will be exactly recorded and calculated.

If a situation that no one wishes is created on the Korean peninsula, the US, the arch criminal and mastermind escalating the tension in the region, will be held wholly responsible for it.