North Korea calls Trump strangler of peace
Pyongyang Oct 16 (IANS) Continuing its harsh anti-US rhetoric North Korea has called President Donald Trump a "war merchant and strangler of peace".
Trump s administration is selling weapons to South Korea and Japan with the intent of enriching the makers of US arms while creating "a hair trigger situation" on the Korean Peninsula said a commentary from state newspaper Rodong Sinmun posted by the Korean Central News Agency CNN reported.
In September a week after Pyongyang fired a test missile over Japan Trump said that he would give the allies increased access to the US weaponry.
"I am allowing Japan & South Korea to buy a substantially increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment from the United States " Trump tweeted on September 5.
South Korea was the fourth-largest recipient of American-made arms from 2011 to 2015 according to research compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Japan and South Korea are participants in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program the most expensive weapons system in world history.
The North Korean commentary comes a day before a 10-day US-South Korea military exercise is scheduled to begin around South Korea.
The drills described as a maritime counter special operations exercise by the US Navy s 7th Fleet will include the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan two guided-missile destroyers units from the South Korean air force and navy and the US Army and US Air Force according to a US statement.
--IANS
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