N Korea urges South to stop military drills with US

Pyongyang, May 18: North Korea has urged South Korea to stop its joint military drills with the US and stop using northern defectors to attack Pyongyang, so that inter-Korean talks could be resumed. Pyongyang suspended inter-Korean talks on Wednesday to protest a two-week-long large-scale US-South Korean air drill which will last until May 25.

Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country of North Korea, was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying that South Korean authorities launched “the extremely adventurous 2018 Max Thunder joint air combat exercises with the US which was aimed at precision strike on key strategic objects of the North Korea and the seizure of the air control.” “On the other hand, they let human scum hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership of North Korea and its social system and speak ill of the historic Panmunjom Declaration at the ‘National Assembly’,” he said, in reference to the appearance of northern defectors at the South Korean parliament, Xinhua reported on Friday. (IANS)