The Korean Peninsula on the brink of bursting

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The situation in the Korean peninsula is inching closer to an uncontrollable and dangerous state.

The world is closely observing the tense confrontation among the nuclear powers on the brink of an outbreak of war with deep concern.

This grave situation is entirely attributable to the reckless and tyrannical moves of the US and its allies to stifle the DPRK.

As it is well known to the world, the DPRK has concentrated all its efforts on easing military tensions and maintaining peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and the region from the outset of this year, given its single desire to achieve fresh development and progress in its economic construction and improvement of its people’s living standards.

But the US-led hostile forces are persistently resorting to dangerous and hostile acts of violently encroaching upon the sovereignty and security interests of the DPRK this year, too, in the wake of last year, and their gravity and danger have reached an intolerable phase.

The US secretary of Defense said on his visit to US allies in January that the US would deploy more strategic assets, such as fifth-generation stealth fighters and aircraft carriers, unhesitatingly revealing its intention to use nuclear weapons against the DPRK. Meanwhile, Yoon Suk-yeol, obsessed with a confrontation with fellow countrymen, talked about the "establishment of a posture of readiness" and "punishment" at an underground air-raid shelter.

The warmongers, engrossed in bravado and blind bravery, announced that they would stage more than 20 rounds of joint military exercises in the first half of this year beyond the level of the past "Foal Eagle" joint military drills, and have staged madcap war exercises against the DPRK, including drills aiming at infiltration and joint striking at its strategic facilities and major core targets.

Regarding the permanent presence of extended deterrence, the US introduced core air strategic weapons, including B-1B nuclear strategic bombers, the F-22, F-35B, and other stealth fighters, in the area of south Korea in February to stage several combined air drills targeting the DPRK together with South Korea in the sky above the West Sea of Korea.

In particular, the US imperialists conducted a "drill for operating extended deterrence means", which made it a fait accompli to mount a preemptive nuclear attack on the DPRK, together with its allies in their mainland in late February, claiming that they would constantly deploy nuclear strategic assets in the Korean peninsula in the future, too.

Such reckless military confrontation and hostile acts drove the situation in the Korean peninsula to the brink of an explosion in March.

The US continuously dispatched nuclear submarines, one of the major strategic assets of the US navy, and Aegis destroyers, to the puppet states with the black-hearted intention to escalate military pressure on the DPRK.

On March 1, the US and the warmongers brought the latest missile pursuit craft of the US navy, Howard Lorenzen, to the East Sea of Korea to conduct espionage activities with RC-135S and other reconnaissance assets. On March 3, they conducted a combined air drill in the sky over the West Sea of Korea for the fourth time this year with B-1B strategic bomber and the MQ-9 Reaper, an air combat drone ill-famed as an "assassin in the sky", and other strategic hardware.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had a special tour to inspect the drills, leading the "beheading operation" of striking the strategic bases of the DPRK. This operation was underway and involved several military units of the puppet states in the areas near the front, to incite them to extreme confrontation hysteria, saying that "the enemy’s provocation has already begun" and they will "mete out a punishment".

Despite the worsened military and political situation of the Korean peninsula and the region, the US staged the fifth round of combined air drills by dispatching the nuclear strategic bomber B-52 on March 6, and started the large-scale US-South Korea joint military exercises Freedom Shield, on March 13.

The reality clearly shows that the danger of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula is shifting from a virtual phase to a practical one.

All the military drills staged by the US in alliance with its allies are a provocative north-targeted rehearsal and preliminary nuclear war to simulate a sweeping war against the DPRK, and herein lies their gravity.

As for the "Ssangyong" combined landing drill aimed at the "occupation of Pyongyang" alone, they rehabilitated it five years after it was halted and openly trumpet that it will reach an all-time high in terms of its scale and scope.

The US imperialists describe their war drills as "defensive" but that is a sophism making profound confusion about right and wrong.

The US itself will not deny the fact that the nuclear strategic bomber B-52H, supersonic strategic bomber B-1B, nuclear carriers, nuclear attack submarines, and F-35 stealth fighters, which it brings to the Korean peninsula and its surrounding areas anytime this year as well as last year, are not for defense but the most offensive military hardware specializing in strategic strike missions.

No one will believe that the constant deployment of the US nuclear strategic assets in the Korean peninsula and such things as landing and infiltration drills, surprise landings, and assault drills staged by special units under war scenarios aimed at the "end of the regime", "decapitation" and "occupation of Pyongyang," are for "defense".

Now the hostile forces are viciously scheming to isolate and suffocate the DPRK through unethical and illegal sanctions while pulling it up over the "human rights issue" and resorting to their dangerous military adventures.

The US and its vassal forces are faking up and spreading all rumors of "threats" to demonize the DPRK in the UN and other international arenas, and contemptibly moving to prevent each and every one thing urgently needed for the daily life of Korean people from entering the DPRK, by groundlessly labeling them as "luxurious articles".

Being unable to isolate the DPRK anymore internationally with the nuclear issue, the US is mobilizing vassal forces that are no more than rabble for the smear campaign against the DPRK in the international arena.

The negative impact caused by the anti-DPRK moves of the US and other hostile forces is not confined to the Korean Peninsula only.

Now the US is working hard to turn the military balance in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia in favor of the US-led alliance system, while zealously egging its allies and Japan toward a dangerous arms buildup under the signboard of implementing the "Indo-Pacific strategy" aimed at maintaining the regional military strategic hegemony.

Getting absorbed in establishing a new military bloc such as the "Asian version of NATO" in the Asia-Pacific region, the US seeks to build an "integrated deterrent force" comprising the military forces of AUKUS and other vassal states, and thus realize its hegemonic purpose by forming an encircling net against regional great powers, and steadily isolating and weakening them.

US allies are developing and introducing a "high-power ballistic missile", launching military spy satellites, and producing nuclear submarines, as Japan moves to introduce the Tomahawk cruise missile to secure the "capability for attacking the enemy’s base" and developing hypersonic missiles. All this proves that the arms buildup of the US and its vassal forces is going beyond the intolerable red line.

Today the Korean Peninsula is turning into the world’s largest weapons stockpile and war drill theatre due to the frantic military expansion moves of the US and its vassal forces.

It is a well-known fact that regional security has been endangered, and the foundation of international peace and security shaken due to the US' scheme for hegemony, by inciting division and confrontation and hampering stability and development.

All things have a wherefore.

As the international community estimates correctly, the situation in the Korean Peninsula has reached this stage due to the US, which has steadily escalated its pressure and military threat against the DPRK, refusing to respond to the positive steps taken by Pyongyang.

This year alone, the DPRK made clear several times that the cause of the sustained vicious cycle of tension in the Korean Peninsula is the frequent combined drills of the US and its allies, who have aggravated the regional situation with all sorts of threatening rhetoric expressions after repeatedly setting the unrealistic and very dangerous target such as the "end of the regime" of a sovereign state. The DPRK strongly demanded an immediate stop to the hostile military acts that are hurting peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and the region.

Nevertheless, the US has driven the situation of the Korean peninsula and the region to an intolerable red line, repeatedly ignoring the just demand of the DPRK and the international community.

In order to cope with the grave developments in which the threat to the sovereignty and security of the state has reached an intolerable phase, the DPRK’s Party and government cannot but take decisive and resolute steps to thoroughly contain the military threats from the hostile forces, and defend the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and the region.

The DPRK’s nuclear forces can be used if necessary, to discharge the sacred mission of defending the country. 

The recent ICBM Hwasongpho-17 launching drill is clear evidence of it.

The DPRK will continue to contain, with overwhelming force, the reckless military provocations of the US and its vassal forces.

There is no guarantee that if the dangerous military provocations of the US and South Korea are continuously overlooked, as they are now, a fierce physical conflict will not occur in the Korean Peninsula, where huge forces of both sides stand in confrontation against each other.

The US should at once stop its reckless military provocations and war drills against the DPRK.