国际英语新闻：DPRK military says denuclearization process will halt

PYONGYANG, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The denuclearization process in the Korean Peninsula will halt because of the U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises, said the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People's Army of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday.

"The process for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will naturally come to a standstill and the DPRK bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense given that the saber rattling is proven to be nuclear war exercises and maneuvers for a war of aggression against the DPRK in its nature," said the mission in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

"It is an inviolable right of the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK for self-defense to counter with powerful nuclear deterrent the U.S. nuclear offensive means threatening the territorial waters and air and land of the DPRK on account of exercises," said the statement.

"The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK will be left with no option but to exercise merciless physical force as the rival is set to do harm to the DPRK," it added.