PYONGYANG, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The official media of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Friday that a recent U.S.-South Korean military drill was a prelude to the resumption of large-scale war games held by the United States in South Korea.
U.S. and South Korean troops conducted a military drill aimed at the north on Feb. 27, two days after the closing of the PyeongChang Olympic Games, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted South Korea's Yonhap News as saying.
Involved in the drill were UH-60 Black Hawks and other helicopters of the second air brigade under the second division of the U.S. army in South Korea and the Dokdo-class amphibious assault ships of the South Korean navy, said the KCNA.
The drill aimed to let the U.S. helicopters acquire the capability of landing on the above-said ships and for coordinated operation between the United States and South Korea in a contingency, according to the report.
"They conducted a similar drill targeting the major objects of the DPRK in May last year," said the KCNA, while calling the South Koreans "warmongers" for collaborating with the United States in the drill, in an apparent reference to the military in the south.
The official DPRK news agency said the drill is "a prelude to the resumption of the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises, as it was held when the PyeongChang Winter Olympics were successfully held thanks to the DPRK's sincere efforts and the atmosphere for improved north-south relations was being created."
The DPRK warned that the resumption of U.S.-South Korean joint drills could push the situation on the Korean Peninsula back to the brink of war, after an inter-Korean rapprochement has been seen in the first two months of the year.
Pyongyang has also accused Washington of trying to derail and sabotage the process of detente between the northern and southern sides of the Korean Peninsula.
The United States had agreed to South Korea's proposal to postpone their large-scale joint war drills during the PyeongChang Olympics, but hinted they would resume such exercises in the coming months.
