Kim Yong Bok, first vice-chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army, issued the following press statement “Gangster-like Logic of Impudent ‘War Apostle’ Can Never Work” on August 25:

As being witnessed by the international community, the US-led joint military drill Ulji Freedom Shield is now underway in the ROK which borders the DPRK, disturbing the regional security environment.

Against this backdrop, the impudence and shamelessness of the US which is accustomed to turning black into white has been revealed again, stunning the world public.

On August 24, the US Forces Command in the ROK made absurd remarks that the drill is a “regular and defensive one without preemptive strike and offensive operation” and “its aim is not to prepare for aggression but to bolster up deterrence.”

It is a generally acknowledged fact that the large-scale war drill against a state can never be for “defence” as it is being staged by the world’s biggest nuclear weapons state and more than ten its satellite states in the Korean peninsula which is technically at war.

As evidence to prove it, more than ten F-35 stealth fighters of the US Air Force arrived at the US military bases in the ROK on August 25 to participate in the drill.

The F-35 stealth fighters stationed in Japan as the core reinforcements to be sent to the ROK before everything else in case of contingency on the Korean peninsula are now engaged in intensive training day and night as soon as they landed on the US military base in Kunsan. This fact makes it possible to realize well the purpose of the drill Ulji Freedom Shield.

And the possibility is under discussion for the permanent or routine rotational deployment of F-35 stealth fighters in the US military bases in Kunsan or other regions of the ROK after their participation in the drill. Meanwhile, all warplanes of F-35 series including F-35A, F-35B and F-35 Lightning II are taking part in the drill, claiming that they are building the capability to carry out the combined operation with the ROK army. Such a development is unprecedented in the history of the adventurous US-ROK war drills.

In fact, the ongoing joint military drill is the exercise for an actual war which reveals its growing provocative nature more clearly as it renewed the records of all the past rehearsals for anti-DPRK war in its nature, scale and mode.

This is evidenced by the fact that the commander of the US forces in the ROK said at the outset of the drill that the training mode they are going to try today would be a basis for the capability to fight tonight and the power to win tomorrow’s victory, fanning up the war fever of the ROK military warmongers. Prior to the start of the drill, he said that the important thing is not the number but the capacity and the key point is to keep the capacity to do something on the Korean peninsula.

The rehearsal for the new combined operational plan for expanding attack into the territory of the DPRK in the wake of the preemptive strike at its nuclear facilities, among others, is the clearest expression of their will to start a war against the DPRK.

The current drill has developed into a multi-national military exercise as it involves the expeditionary force of the US Marine Corps from the outside of the region and troops of member states of the “UN Command” as well as the US forces in the ROK and the ROK army, the main forces of the drill. And it is the biggest, longest and most dangerous war game in the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world as it reached the highest records in number and period of field manoeuvring drill. However, the US insists that the drill is entirely for “defence”.

In particular, the training for preemptive nuclear strike at the DPRK is a must for the US-ROK military drills which have been conventionally staged for long. This more clearly indicates who is the arch criminal threatening humankind with nukes and the main culprit disturbing peace.

The threatening nature of Ulji Freedom Shield is clearly proved by the US intention to occupy the Korean peninsula and direct the arrow of attack against its enemy states in the region. Recently the US military authorities said that the US forces in the ROK do not focus merely on the Korean Peninsula and the ROK is just like an island or an anchored aircraft carrier between Japan and mainland China, talking about the so-called strategic flexibility of the US forces in the ROK.

The typical Yankee-style arrogance and impudence of the “war apostle” aimed to mislead the public opinion and turn black into white with the third-rate wordplay while infringing upon the security interests of a sovereign state and endangering the regional security environment can never work.

We are watching everything closely and ready to cope with any situation.

The US and the ROK sides are well advised to bear in mind that if they grow accustomed to such military rehearsal and continuously resort to it, they would certainly face up an unpleasant situation and pay a dear price.

KCNA