Pyongyang - Saba:
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has accused the United States of taking escalatory measures on the Korean Peninsula and causing tension in the region to rise to a catastrophic stage.
In a report titled "Taking Self-Defense Measures to Protect the State Security Environment," KCNA quoted the head of the DPRK Defense Ministry's Information Office as saying today: "The United States flexing its military muscle against the DPRK in and around the Korean Peninsula has escalated military tensions in the region by deploying the George Washington nuclear aircraft carrier group in the waters around the Korean Peninsula and by conducting the Freedom Edge military exercises with Japan and South Korea recently."
The report warns the United States and its allies not to continue their provocative practices and hostile acts, stressing that such practices could push the military confrontation on the Korean peninsula and its neighboring regions into a real armed conflict.
The constitutional duty of the DPRK Armed Forces is to take defensive measures to protect the security environment of the state and maintain strategic stability and balance of power in the region, the report said, adding that the KPA closely follows the military moves of the US and its allies, opening up all options in its combat readiness.
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