North Korea has called for the upcoming joint US-South Korea joint military exercises (Ulchi Freedom Guardian, or UFG) to be cancelled in order for the two countries to exhibit the sincere desire to improve relations with North Korea, according to a piece carried by Chosun Central News Agency today.
The KCNA piece cites North Korea’s Panmunjom Mission as stating on Sunday that the U.S. and South Korea “must officially express their will to normalize Chosun-U.S. and North-South relations by cancelling the UFG exercises. Looked at in the light of the people’s hopes for August 15th to be a turning point in North-South relations, enforcing joint military exercises the very next day is itself set to negate the whole idea of improving relations.”
“If the U.S. sincerely has the will to turn the current armistice system into a peace system, then they must at least show that will to the outside world on a practical basis by cancelling this year’s joint military exercises,” it went on to reiterate. “They have to show the will to denuclearize the Chosun Peninsula by making the political decision to cancel the joint military exercises.”
The Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military exercises are due to begin on August 16th and run until the 25th. They are a constant source of aggravation for the North Korean regime, which last year warned in a Rodong Shinmun piece that UFG represents “the manifestation of a wicked plan to start the second Korean War by destroying peace and intensifying tensions on the Chosun Peninsula,” and proclaiming that “South Chosun must remember that it will not be safe if it keeps provoking war.”
