The US on Saturday slammed as an “implicit threat” an offer by North Korea to temporarily suspend its future nuclear tests if Washington cancels military drills with South Korea.
Pyongyang was “inappropriately” linking routine military exercises between Washington and Seoul to the possibility of a nuclear test, US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
“A new nuclear test would be a clear violation of North Korea’s obligations under multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” Psaki told reporters traveling with US Secretary of State John Kerry to India during a stopover in Munich.
North Korea’s proposal was passed to the US through a “relevant channel” on Friday, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Saturday.
The message called on Washington to help ease tensions on the Korean peninsula by suspending all of this year’s joint military exercises in South Korea “and its vicinity.”
If Washington requires talks to clarify Pyongyang’s new proposal, North Korea “is ready to sit with the US anytime,” the agency said.
However, Psaki said the statement, which “inappropriately links routine US-ROK [Republic of South Korea] exercises to the possibility of a nuclear test by North Korea is an implicit threat.”
“We call on the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] to immediately cease all threats, reduce tensions, and take the necessary steps toward denuclearization needed to resume credible negotiations,” Psaki added.
The US, which has close to 30,000 troops stationed in South Korea, conducts a series of joint military exercises with the key Asian ally every year.
Psaki said the exercises were “transparent, defense-oriented, and have been carried out regularly and openly for [about] 40 years.”
However, the drills are regularly condemned by Pyongyang as provocative rehearsals for an invasion,.
The exercises habitually raise tensions between the two Koreas, who remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War concluded with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.
Describing the US-South Korean military drills as the “root cause” of tensions on the peninsula, KCNA said their continuation precluded any possibility of dialogue or detente.
North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests — the last in February 2013 — and recently threatened a fourth in response to a UN resolution condemning its human rights record.
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