North Korea threatens US against joint military exercises with South Korea

A North Korean official on Sunday threatened the US yet again if it takes part in the joint military exercises with South Korea in the coming months.

The United States is due to start joint exercises in early April, a South Korean presidential security adviser said this week according to Yonhap news agency - the latest in a series of drills that the north has regularly described as a threat.

“If the US finally holds joint military exercises while keeping sanctions on the DPRK, the DPRK will counter the U.S. by its own mode of counteraction and the US will be made to own all responsibilities for the ensuing consequences,” North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said in its commentary, saying the drills would harm reconciliation efforts on the peninsula.

It further said the military drills between the US and South Korea would harm reconciliation efforts on the peninsula and the North shall be 'forced' to counter the US.

On 23 February, the US said it was imposing its largest package of sanctions to pressure Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear and missile programmes. Tensions have remained high since the latest sanctions were put into place.

North Korea has slammed Trump’s unilateral sanctions against it, but it said it was open to talks with the United States during senior North Korean officials’ visit to South Korea for the Olympics last month.

The White House said any talks with North Korea must lead to an end of its nuclear program. North Korea reiterated on Saturday that it was willing to talk to the United States but said it would never sit with any precondition.

The North Korean spokesperson said, "It would neither beg for dialogue nor evade the military option claimed by the US."