DPRK blasts US forces in ROK for triggering regional instability

PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday accused the US military presence in Republic of Korea (ROK) of being the "root cause of instability" in the Korean Peninsula and even in the entire Northeast Asian region.

In a statement released by the official KCNA news agency, the Institute for Disarmament and Peace of the DPRK Foreign Ministry also labeled the US forces in ROK as a "cancer-like entity," noting that they have been leading tension-stoking US-ROK joint military maneuvers.

"What is the most serious in the activities conducted by the US forces in ROK is the joint military exercises that cause a vicious circle of tensions on the peninsula," the statement said.

The statement called the US military presence in ROK an "anachronistic mistake," as 69 years have passed since 1945 when the United States first stationed its troops in ROK, and the political landscape in Northeast Asia has witnessed drastic changes.

The US-led military drills jointly carried out with ROK "can never be tolerated" as they are "very dangerous saber-rattling that can cause catastrophic consequences" in terms of their scale, nature and frequency, despite the attempts of the two allies to justify them as "annual and defensive," said the statement.

It is self-evident that the Korean Peninsula's situation would not have deteriorated if the United States had pulled its forces out of ROK, it stressed.

The statement also called on the international community to pay due attention to the joint US-ROK military exercises, saying US forces in ROK play a key role in threatening peace and stability in the region.

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