North Korean propaganda outlets slam South Korea-U.S. amphibious exercise

South Korean and U.S. warships engaging in combined drills in waters off Pohang, North Gyeongsang, on March 22. [KOREA NAVY]

North Korean propaganda outlets continued their criticism of an ongoing South Korea-U.S. amphibious landing exercise Sunday, blaming the allies for heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Seoul and Washington kicked off their first large-scale Ssangyong exercise in five years last Monday to sharpen deterrence against growing North Korean threats. It runs through April 3.

Uriminjokkiri, a propaganda website, rejected the allies' argument that their combined drills were defensive in nature.

"That the amphibious landing has an offensive nature rather than being defensive is a fact that anybody knows," the website said.

Another propaganda outlet, Meari, claimed that the responsibility for bringing the situation on the peninsula to a "perilous" point that could trigger war lies in the "hostile" forces, including the United States.

"The fact that the Ssangyong exercise is taking place on an expanded division level in this odd-numbered year clearly shows to which point the imprudence and ill-advised bravery of the war mongers has reached," it said.

The North has decried allied exercises as preparations for a war of invasion, raising concerns that it could use those drills as a pretext to engage in provocative acts.

Yonhap