The chief of the External Policy Office of the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Saturday released the following press statement titled "The U.S. will be held wholly responsible for pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to an uncontrollable one":

Amid the extreme tension prolonging on the Korean peninsula due to the recent crucial provocation of the ROK against the DPRK, the U.S. more openly reveals its military confrontational attempt against the DPRK.

From October 21, the U.S., 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 purpose of the drill is aimed at the DPRK.

The U.S. 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 which integrates the annual combined joint formation drill and a joint air drill Vigilant Defense.

The military drill of the U.S. and the ROK, which shows the offensive and aggressive nature more vividly in its scale, content and character, is a very dangerous military provocation aimed at preemptive and surprise strike at the DPRK.

The U.S. 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 while dispatching the super-large nuclear carrier George Washington task force around the Korean peninsula.

We strongly denounce the U.S. 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 U.S. can never cover up its criminal nature of driving the situation on the Korean peninsula into an uncontrollable one with any rhetoric.

It is a fact known to the world that the ROK committed illegal and grave provocation of openly infiltrating military attack means into the sky above a sovereign state under the shelter of "military cooperation" with someone.

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

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

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

Rodong Sinmun