DPRK official media calls recent US-RoK navy drill prelude to resumption of war games

3/4/2018 - 5:01:37 PM

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on March 2 that a recent United States and the Republic of Korea (RoK) military drill was a prelude to the resumption of large-scale war games held by the US in the RoK.

Thousands of RoK and US troops joined a military exercise in Paju, RoK, August, 2016.

US and RoK troops conducted a military drill on February 27, two days after the closing of the PyeongChang Olympic Games, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted RoK's Yonhap News as saying.

Involved in the drill were UH-60 Black Hawks and other helicopters of the second air brigade under the second division of the US army in RoK and the Dokdo-class amphibious assault ships of the RoK navy, said the KCNA.

The official DPRK news agency said the drill is "a prelude to the resumption of the US-RoK joint military exercises, as it was held when the PyeongChang Winter Olympics were successfully held thanks to the DPRK's sincere efforts and the atmosphere for improved north-south relations was being created."

The DPRK warned that the resumption of US-RoK joint drills could push the situation on the Korean Peninsula back to the brink of war, after an inter-Korean rapprochement has been seen in the first two months of the year.

Source: NDO

Removing “bottlenecks” in global problems

The Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the world’s leading developed and emerging economies (G20) recently held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil emphasised the need to reform global governance institutions, especially the United Nations Security Council. The meeting is also an opportunity for G20 to find solutions to a series of hot issues facing the world, such as poverty, climate change, and conflict.

ASEAN FMs issue statement on maintaining, promoting stability in maritime sphere in Southeast Asia

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers on December 30 issued a statement on maintaining and promoting stability in the maritime sphere in Southeast Asia.

Optimistic signals of the world economy

The world economy has overcome a challenging year, but has proven more resilient than expected. The Financial Times (UK) commented that 2023 was a positive year for the world economy as the economic surprise index collated by Citigroup shew that actual data have underwhelmed economists’ predictions for much of the past months. These economic trends are the basis for optimism about the world economy in 2024.