North Korea has called on the United States and South Korea to cancel their 10-day joint military exercises scheduled for August 16. In an open letter, the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People's Army said the war games are part of the hysteria for a war of aggression against the North and would be all-out nuclear war maneuvers. It said the US and South Korea should cancel the planned exercises to show their will for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and replace the armistice system by a peace-keeping mechanism on the peninsula. The letter warned that if the other party launches a nuclear war, North Korea is ready to counter it with nukes. The North Korean army urged both the countries to behave with discretion.