North Korea in an "announcement to all Koreans" on Thursday called for a permanent halt to the joint South Korea-U.S. military drills, the official [North] Korean Central News Agency reported.
The announcement came after a meeting of North Korea's nominal political parties and other organizations in Pyongyang.
It demanded a "permanent halt to the joint South Korea-U.S. military drills and suspension of the deployment of U.S. strategic military assets on the Korean Peninsula."
"There is no reason that the U.S. hideous nuclear strategic assets and aggressive armed forces remain in South Korea today at a time when the door for North-South dialogue opens and the important issues of the nation are seriously discussed," it said.
It added military tension on the Korean Peninsula is a "fundamental obstacle" for the improvement of inter-Korean relations and reunification.
The regime made clear that it will not put denuclearization on the table in any cross-border talks.
It also suggested holding joint events to mark a couple of occasions like the anniversaries of the June 15 Joint Declaration in 2000, Liberation Day (Aug. 15), and the Oct. 4 Joint Declaration in 2007. Both joint declarations promised bounties to North Korea that Seoul was never in any position to bestow.
