North Korea slams US 'grave military provocation'

Iran Press TV

Sun May 12, 2013 7:56AM GMT

North Korea has slammed the arrival of a US aircraft carrier in South Korea for a joint military exercise, calling the move a 'grave military provocation.'

A US naval strike group led by the nuclear-powered Nimitz warship arrived off South Korea's southern port of Busan on Saturday for the drill, which is scheduled to be held later this week.

The 97,000-ton Nimitz, one of the world's largest warships, will participate in the joint drill around the Korean Peninsula, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.

Pyongyang has called the arrival of the US navy mega ship a "grave military provocation, which would further worsen the situation."

"The joint naval drill involving the latest weaponry including the nuclear aircraft carrier is a wanton blackmail against us and demonstrates… that their attempt to invade us has reached an extremely reckless level," the North Korean Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea stated.

"The risk of a nuclear war in the peninsula has risen further due to the madcap nuclear war practice by the US and the South's enemy forces," North Korea's news agency KCNA cited the committee on Saturday.

Last week, North Korea warned against any provocation during the upcoming joint maneuver, saying that Pyongyang was ready to counterstrike if a "single shell" drops across the disputed Yellow Sea maritime border.

"In case the enemies recklessly counter our counterstrikes, all striking forces will turn the (South's) five islands… into a sea of flames," Pyongyang said in a statement on May 7.

The Korean Peninsula has been locked in a cycle of escalating military rhetoric following the participation of nuclear-capable US B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers in the joint military exercises with South Korea that ended on April 30.

MSH/HSN