South Korea¡¯s Ministry of Defense has compared the recent  offer by North Korea to suspend nuclear tests if military exercises between Washington and Seoul are canceled to ¡°leaving the front door open for a robber."

Kim Min Seok at a regular briefing ¡°The joint ROK-US military exercises are to defend the Republic of Korea from North Korean military threats,¡± South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said at a regular briefing today. ¡°For North Korea to tie a tentative suspension of its nuclear tests to the ROK-U.S. military exercises is not right.¡±

He added, ¡°North Korea¡¯s nuclear tests are prohibited according to the UN Security Council resolution, and North Korea must obey that.¡±

On January 9th, Pyongyang said it was willing to suspend nuclear tests if Washington agreed to call off annual military drills held jointly with Seoul.

In response, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, ¡°The DPRK statement that inappropriately links routine US-ROK exercises to the Possiblity of a nuclear test by North Korea is an implicit threat.