Pyongyang, August 22 (KCNA) -- Foreign media on August 17 and 18 reported a statement issued by a spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry denouncing the U.S. and the south Korean authorities for staging the provocative and aggressive Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military exercises despite the repeated warnings of the DPRK.

The Chinese Central TV reported that a spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry in a statement said it is self-evident that the DPRK should put spurs to bolstering its nuclear deterrent for self-defence both in quality and quantity to cope with the joint military exercises kicked off by the U.S. and the south Korean authorities.

Invariable is the stand of the DPRK to preserve peace and denuclearize the peninsula through dialogue and negotiations, the CCTV aired. The spokesman said no attempt on the part of the U.S. to do harm to the DPRK by force of arms can go with dialogue and this will only prompt the DPRK to exercise Korean-style mode of merciless counteraction, it added.

Chinese Internet homepages Xinhua network, Guangming network, Jingji network, Hong Kong Phoenix Satellite TV, the Indian papers Hindustan Times, Hindu, ASEAN Age and Statesman, the Thai paper Bangkok Post and the SANA and the Central TV of Syria echoed in detail the statement of the spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry.