Arab News Japan

TOKYO: The possibility of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and the chances of negotiating the issue have “disappeared forever,” according to a report by the North’s Central News Agency.

The North was responding to what it calls a “series of military provocations based on the pretext of ‘the suppression of a seventh nuclear test by North Korea’.” 

“The history of U.S.-North Korea negotiations over denuclearization for more than 30 years has come to an end,” the North was reported as saying. “The United States has no choice but to continue to allow North Korea to expand and strengthen its nuclear forces as before, or to conclude a peace agreement and diplomatic relations with North Korea and coexist.”

In a provocative message, North Korea said the Korean Peninsula “is facing a touch-and-go nuclear war crisis.” It added: “What is more dangerous is that the dialogue channel between North Korea and the U.S. is completely closed, and there is no country that can mediate between the two countries.”

The North says South Korea’s Yoon Seok-yeol administration has led to increasing “military provocations by the United States, South Korea, and Japan,” leading to the restarting of its Nuclear Deterrence Strategy.

The North condemned military exercises by the United States, South Korea and Japan and referred to a “large-scale joint aerial drill with more than 240 Air Force aircraft from the United States and South Korea” starting on Monday.