N. Korea seeks UNSC anti-US drills move

PYONGYANG - 22 October 2017: North Korea's permanent representative to the United Nations sent a letter to the UN Security Council urging it to discuss a large-scale South Korea-US joint naval drills, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday.

The drill represents an attempt to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the North Korea, the letter said.

"The military exercises conducted by the US one after another all the year round on the Korean peninsula are clearly aggressive war exercises in their nature and scale," it added.

"Involved in the naval exercises are the strike forces of the nuclear aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, three nuclear submarines including the Michigan, Aegis destroyers and more than 40 other battleships and fighters of all kinds," the letter read.

"The naval rehearsal has further strained the tension on the Korean peninsula as it was launched after the US chief executive made the most ferocious declaration of war in history by crying out for 'totally destruction' of the DPRK," it added.

"What cannot be overlooked is the fact that the US, not being contented with the joint military exercises on the Korean peninsula, is kicking up the racket of military pressure upon the DPRK on a world-wide scale while getting more undisguised in its attempt to introduce NATO and other armed forces of its followers into the peninsula in case of emergency," the letter said.

"The large-scale joint military exercises, started by the US against the DPRK in the Cold War era, are staged several times every year with mobilization of more nuclear strategic assets on a larger scale of the more aggressive nature after the Cold War era. As such, they constitute clear threat to international peace and security," it added.

"Proceeding therefrom, the DPRK, in accordance with Article 34 and Article 35 of the UN Charter, requests the UN Security Council to bring up the U.S. joint military exercises as its urgent agenda item for discussion," the letter read.

"No other country in the world than the DPRK has ever been subjected to such an extreme and direct nuclear threat from the US for such a long time and witnessed on its door such nuclear war exercises which are the most vicious and ferocious in their scale, style, aim and essence," it added.

"The UN Security Council, in conformity with its mandate, should accept our request for ensuring peace and security of the Korean peninsula, and thus eliminate the root cause of aggravated tension and war on the Korean peninsula and make practical contribution to promoting international peace and security," the letter said.

"Should the UNSC ignore again the DPRK's just and aboveboard request, it will reveal by itself more clearly that the Security Council has now become a political tool of an individual power by giving up its mission and turning its back on the trust of the international community," it concluded.