(VOVworld) – On Thursday, the Korean Central News Agency cited a spokesperson of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea as condemning South Korea’s decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system despite strong objections at home and abroad.

Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected a factory to produce sports shoes on June 2nd, 2016. (Archive Photo: Yonhap/VNA)

Pyongyang also accused the US and South Korea of deploying heavy arms in the demilitarized zone (DMZ), which increases the likelihood of an unexpected military conflict.

South Korean media reported last week that the United Nations Command (UNC) had revised its rules to allow South Korean and US military forces to carry heavy weapons including mortars and machine-guns into the buffer zone.

The North said the deployment is a violation of the Korean Armistice Agreement.

Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the US Defense Department called on North Korea Thursday to take all possible steps to relieve tension on the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang recently threatened violence in response to the US’s deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea.