North Korea warned Thursday that dangerous tensions are rising on the Korean Peninsula in May due to naval drills conducted by South Korea and the United States.
In an article carried by the Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, the North claimed the convergence of substantial forces around waters surrounding the peninsula is a move to taunt its Navy and heighten the risk of confrontation.
Seoul and Washington carried out anti-submarine exercises in the Yellow Sea south of the sea demarcation line that separates the two Koreas early this month, followed by a two-day-long drill in the East Sea that involved the Nimitz carrier battle group.
The daily, which mirrors the views of the ruling party and the state, said this year's annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises that were carried out in March and April were unprecedented in its scope.
The U.S. sent its F-22 stealth fighters, B-2 and B-52 strategic bombers over South Korea in an overt show of force after Pyongyang ratcheted up tensions by detonating its third nuclear device on Feb. 12 and threatening nuclear strikes against the United States.
"The naval exercises following Key Resolve and Foal Eagle can only be seen as part of broader efforts to stifle the DPRK with military might," the paper said. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
Assessments by foreign military observers that Pyongyang has withdrawn its Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile are inaccurate, it said.
The daily said that trying to find a fully automated mobile missile system is like finding a needle in a haystack. It warned that all of its missiles have coordinates of U.S. targets pre-set in the guidance systems.
"In the event of the final struggle with the U.S. the DPRK will prevail," it said.
The latest rhetoric comes as the North, following intensive saber rattling tactics for several months, has toned down its war of words in the past few weeks, raising speculation that it is seeking an "exit strategy" and trying to find a compromise situation as the international community starts to impose sanctions approved by the U.N. Security Council on March 7.