North Korea slams South Korea – US defense treaty
(VOVWORLD) - The Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s ruling party daily, has called the Mutual Defense Treaty between the US and South Korea a plot to invade the North.
 THAAD, a US missle defense system, is deployed in South Korea. (Photo: Reuters)
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Its editorial said on Monday, when the bilateral treaty marked its 64th anniversary, that the deal had been the base for joint military exercises between South Korea and the US, and the Korean deployment of American strategic weapons. It added that Koreans in both North and South, as well as those overseas, should abolish the mutual defense treaty without any delay.
South Korea and the US signed the alliance treaty on October 1, 1953, two months before the Korean Armistice Agreement ended the Korean War. Under the treaty, the two nations are required to come to the aid of the other side if either of them faces an external armed attack. The treaty is also the legal basis for the deployment of US military forces in South Korea.