WORLD> Asia-Pacific
DPRK urges US, S. Korea to stop joint military drill
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-18 20:05

PYONGYANG  -- A spokesman for the Korean People 's Army (KPA) denounced Monday the US-South Korean joint military drill as aiming to "launch a new invasion," demanding it to stop at once.

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The military maneuvers challenged the Korean War Armistice and would strain the situation of the Korean peninsula, to which the KPA would never turn a deaf ear, The official KCNA news agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) quoted the spokesman as saying.

The US took a cunning policy that claims "denuclearization" on the one hand, while attempting to stifle the DPRK militarily on the other hand, the spokesman said, adding that the KPA will keep a close eye on the military drill and strike back any attempt of demolishing the DPRK socialism and stability of the peninsula.

The US and South Korea began Monday their massive annual joint military drill, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian, in which about 56, 000 South Korean troops and 10,000 US soldiers would participate.