Pyongyang, October 31 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued the following statement on Oct. 31:

The situation in the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity has entered the serious confrontation phase of power for power again due to the ceaseless and reckless military moves of the U.S. and south Korea.

The large-scale field mobile exercise, Hoguk, was staged across south Korea from Oct. 17 to 28, and a few days later, the largest-ever U.S.-south Korea joint air drill, Vigilant Storm, was started.

This drill involving more than hundreds of fighters of different missions such as F-35Bs based in Japan is a war drill for aggression mainly aimed at striking the strategic targets of the DPRK in case of contingency in the Korean Peninsula.

Owing to the large-scale war exercises staged by the U.S. and its vassal forces almost every day this year, the Korean Peninsula remains the hotspot with the most serious military tensions in the world and the security circumstances in the region have become grimmer.

The joint military exercises of the U.S. and its vassal forces have the more clear aggressive nature than any other ones everywhere else of the world in terms of the period, scale, contents and density.

The U.S.-south Korea joint military exercises, staged in April on a full scale through the "combined command exercises", were turned into a large-scale field mobile drill "Ulji Freedom Shield" in August and then into large-scale joint naval exercises and the largest-ever joint air drill involving a nuclear carrier task force in September and October. All the facts clearly show that the U.S. nuclear war scenario against the DPRK has entered the final stage.

For the U.S. to describe the DPRK's self-defensive military counteraction as an act of escalating the tensions is very absurd and this is just like a guilty party filing the suit first. It is because the U.S. is staging such war exercises for aggression as the large-scale landing drill and "decapitation" of the leadership aimed at occupying the territory and depth of the opposite party.

The DPRK reminds once again of the fact that the recent military drills by units of the Korean People's Army were carried out under the unstable security circumstances created by the U.S. and south Korea.

The U.S. is trying to shift the responsibility for the escalated tensions onto the DPRK after making it take a countermeasure by getting on its nerves militarily under the signboard of "annual" and "defensive" exercises. But such scheme can no longer work to conceal its true colors as the chief culprit in destroying peace and security.

The U.S., the one and only country in the world which sets it as a main target of nuclear strategy to "topple the government" of a sovereign state, must be prepared for paying an equal price for its attempt to use military force against the DPRK.

The DPRK is ready to take all necessary measures for defending its sovereignty, people's security and territorial integrity from outside military threats. If the U.S. continuously persists in the grave military provocations, the DPRK will take into account more powerful follow-up measures.

If the U.S. does not want any serious developments not suited to its security interests, it should stop the useless and ineffective war exercises at once. If not, it will have to totally take the blame for all the consequences. -0-

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