N.Korea Demands Suspension of S.Korea-U.S. Marine Drill

North Korea on Monday accused South Korea and the U.S. of violating an inter-Korean military agreement by staging a joint marine drill.

The Korean Marine Exchange Program is a battalion-level joint drill which was postponed indefinitely in June but recently resumed. It is a far smaller drill than the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercise that South Korea and the U.S. also called off.

But the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the marine drill "runs counter to the inter-Korean military agreement that calls for eliminating dangers of war throughout the [Korean Peninsula] and terminating cross-border hostility."

But the Defense Ministry here said it will stage a total of 24 KMEP drills until September next year. "The KMEP drills are annual defensive exercises," a ministry spokesperson said. "It's wrong for the North to assert that the drills are in violation of the inter-Korean military agreement. We have no plan to suspend them for now."

Read this article in Korean