North Korea charged Thursday the joint South Korea-U.S. naval exercises and fresh sanctions against Pyongyang are major threats to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.
"Amid growing concerns by the international community, South Korea and the United States have announced they would hold joint naval exercises,"
said Ri Tong-il, spokesman for the North Korean delegation to a regional forum here. "Such a move presents a grave threat to the peace and security
not only to the Korean Peninsula but to the region."
South Korean and U.S. foreign and defense ministers announced in Seoul on Wednesday a series of joint military drills beginning Sunday and new U.S. sanctions targeting the North's leaders as they mounted pressure on Pyongyang.
Seoul and its allies blame the North for the sinking of a South Korean warship in March that killed 46 sailors, a charge the communist regime
denies as a fabrication.
Ri said the sanctions are "only adding to the hostile policy against North Korea" and should be lifted.
North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun is leading his country's delegation to the annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) opening Friday, in which the ship sinking is most likely to emerge as a centerpiece issue.
South and North Korea are expected to compete over the wording of the ARF chairman's statement, which Seoul hopes will be close to a U.N. Security
Council presidential statement that deplored the deadly attack on the South Korean ship without directly blaming the North.
Ri charged that the naval drills and the sanctions violate the Security Council statement that encourages peace and dialogue.
"They don't contribute to the peace and security of the region, they infringe upon them," he said.
Ri reiterated that the North would return to the stalled six-party talks only on "equal footing" with other members, not as "a victim and a
perpetrator."