DPRK urges south Korea to cancel joint military drills with US

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday urged South Korea to cancel its scheduled joint military exercises with the United States that will start later this month. The DPRK's National Defense Commission said in a policy bureau spokesman's statement that dialogue and the rehearsal for war of aggression can never be compatible, according to the DPRK's KCNA news agency cited by Yonhap News Agency and broadcaster YTN. Citing negative reports of some South Korean media on top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un's recent visit to childcare centers, the commission said that implementation of the agreement between the two Koreas, apparently pointing to the agreed reunion of separated families, can be reviewed if the South side's slandering of its supreme dignity continues. The statement came a day after the two Koreas agreed to hold the family reunion from Feb. 20 to 25, the first in more than three years, at the DPRK's scenic resort of Mount Kumgang. Starting from late February, Seoul and Washington will conduct joint annual military exercises, which Pyongyang has denounced as the rehearsal for a northward invasion, till April. The beginning of the joint drills was expected to fall on the reunion date. South Korean military has confirmed that it will carry out the Key Resolve and the Foal Eagle war games with the United States as scheduled, noting that the military drills were defensive in nature. The military had yet to unveil detailed schedules for the drills.