Annual joint U.S.-South Korean military drills must be suspended if Washington “sincerely” hopes to hold talks with Pyongyang, North Korean ruling party organ the Rodong Sinmun said on Tuesday.

In a commentary, the DPRK’s most widely-circulated newspaper said such “provocative statements and behaviors” represented “intolerable ridicule.”

“The reason why we’ve strongly urged the U.S. to stop joint military exercises is that the drills only cause harm to easing tensions on the Korean peninsula,” the newspaper said in a commentary.

Washington’s handling of the issue would represent a key indicator of whether the U.S. wanted peace or war, it continued, insisting