North Korea Blasts US for Their Military Provocation

U.S. Blasted for Their Military Provocation
    
  The director of Press of the Institute for American Studies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK, gave an answer to a question raised by KCNA on Jan. 23 as regards the increased level of military threat by the United States to the DPRK.

  A rare atmosphere of easing tension on the Korean peninsula is now being created as the inter-Korean talks are held on our participation in the 23rd Winter Olympics. 

On the contrary, however, the United States is making extremely unusual military moves targeting our country, the director said, and went on:

  The U.S. has moved the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier strike group "Carl Vinson" into the waters around the Korean peninsula and plans to dispatch soon another nuclear-powered aircraft carrier strike group "Stennis", under the pretext of countering a possible "provocation" of the DPRK during the Winter Olympics.

  Meanwhile, the U.S. is going to send a special operation unit to south Korea under the pretext of "anti-terror" during the Winter Olympics and it has made public that it will conduct test launch of ICBM "Minuteman-3" around February.

  Such provocative military maneuvers of the U.S. are acts that throw a wet blanket over the atmosphere of improving inter-Korean relations and defusing tension on the Korean peninsula hard-won by our initiative and magnanimity, and these cannot be justified by any means.

  The latest continued military moves of the U.S. are based on the cunning scheme to block the improvement of inter-Korean relations by inveigling us into taking hardline countermeasures and to impute the blame of increasing tension on us.

  Our Republic cherishes peace but never begs for it, and we will take resolute countermeasures against any acts of destroying peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.

  In case the situation on the Korean peninsula falls again into a vortex of aggravation due to the reckless military moves of the U.S., full responsibility for the consequence will rest with the U.S.