North Korean officials say the end of US-Korea exercises permanently is the move to facilitate nuclear negotiations.

"We demand that the United States abandon or end the exercise once and for all. The suspension does not mean peace and security on the Korean peninsula and does not help diplomatic efforts." North Korea's central news agency KCNA today quoted the statement of senior Kim Yong-chol, who was in charge of US-North Korea nuclear talks.

The statement was made after Kim Yong-chol after the US and South Korea announced on November 17 the cancellation of the exercise called "Joint Air Force Training Event" (CFTE) scheduled to take place in Korea next month.

Pyongyang has long condemned joint exercises between the US and South Korea, considering it an exercise of aggression. Last year, Seoul and Washington canceled a number of joint military training to facilitate the holding of the US-Korea summit in Singapore in June 2018.

After the collapse of work-level negotiations between the two countries in Stockholm, Pyongyang repeatedly accused Washington of inappropriate approaches and threatened relations between the two countries "that could be ended immediately." North Korea has also tested rockets several times since the beginning of the year, apparently to warn the US about the weapons it is developing.