North Korea calls on UN to demand US, South Korea end military drills

North Korea has repeatedly criticized the military drills being staged by the United States and South Korea in the region amidst flared tensions. Pyongyang has since called on the United Nations to demand an end to the allies’ military drills.

North Korean state media KCNA reported on Sunday that the foreign ministry has called on the UN to demand that the US and South Korea immediately stop their military exercises.

The ministry said the drills were raising tensions that threatened escalation. Pyongyang said the drills and rhetoric of the US and South Korea were “irresponsibly raising the level of confrontation,” according to North Korean vice foreign minister for international organizations Kim Son-gyong in a statement.

“The UN and the international community have to strongly urge the US and South Korea to immediately halt their provocative remarks and joint military exercises,” said Kim, expressing regret that the UN has not commented on the drills that Kim says have a “clear aggressive nature.”

US and South Korean officials said on Friday last week that the two allies will be staging over 10 days of large-scale military drills in March, including amphibious landings. The allies say the drills are an exercise of self-defense and necessary to counter threats from North Korea as Pyongyang moves forward with its ballistic and nuclear missile programs which are banned under UN Security Council resolutions.

The allies also staged a combined air drill with a US long-range bomber and South Korean fighter aircraft on Friday and have been carrying out weeks of drills with special rations units.

Also last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed the importance of meeting the nation’s agricultural targets in the midst of reported food shortages and that “nothing is impossible” under the leadership of the ruling Worker’s Party during a meeting with top party officials.

KCNA reported that Kim told officials to concentrate on meeting grain production targets and increasing yields in farms as well as eliminating “internal factors that have a negative effect” on the nation’s agricultural development. Kim also called on officials to “substantially strengthen the political, ideological, material, and technical foundations of the countryside.”