A statement by the North Korean Ministry of Armed Forces notes that they were held “at the hottest point” in the waters off the west coast of the DPRK.
DPRK condemned the joint exercises of South Korea’s aviation and navy conducted in the immediate vicinity of the borders of the People’s Republic, calling such a step a mad provocation. This was stated in a statement by a representative of the DPRK Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, text of which is quoted by the Central Telegraph Agency of Korea (CTAK) on Friday.
“The representative of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces of the DPRK has condemned the insane military act of provocation of the South Korean military circles,” the Central Telegraph Agency of Korea (CTAK) stresses. As the agency explains, on May 6, South Korea conducted military maneuvers with participation of 20 fighters and one high-speed ship of the Navy in close proximity to the borders of the DPRK in the area of the western coast of the People’s Republic.
As noted in the statement, exercises of South Korea’s aviation and navy were held “in the hottest point” in the water near the west coast of the DPRK, where “in the past there was a military clash between North and South. “Even more serious is the fact that the South Korean military circles conducted military exercises, calling us the enemy,” emphasized in a statement by a representative of the DPRK Ministry of People’s Armed Forces. Such actions of the South Korean military “throw the situation back to the starting point that existed before the 2018 inter-Korean summit”, – summed up CTAK.
From April to September 2018, the leaders of DPRK and South Korea held three inter-Korean summit meetings to discuss the normalization of relations between the North and South of the Korean peninsula. In particular, at the summit on April 27, 2018, Chairman of the State Council of DPRK Kim Jong-un and President of the Republic of Korea Moon-jae In signed a joint declaration in which they agreed to put an end to hostility between the two countries.
During Moon Jae In’s visit to Pyongyang from 18 to 20 September 2018, the Ministers of Defence of the North and South signed a document aimed at reducing tension and avoiding clashes between the two countries’ military forces in the area of the inter-Korean border. This agreement was later described in Seoul as a de facto “non-aggression pact”.