North Korea has again brought up the possibility of inter-Korean family reunions on the condition that South Korea and the United States suspend their joint military exercise. 

The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North Korean ruling Workers’ Party said on Tuesday that if the joint military drills are suspended, it would naturally set the stage for reconciliation and lead to reunions of families separated by the Korean War.

The newspaper also strongly condemned the drills, calling them a blatant provocation against the North.

The paper then criticized President Park Geun-hye’s Liberation Day speech, saying that all the proposals in the speech were aimed at deflecting responsibility for her role in strained inter-Korean relations.

The daily claimed that the South turned its back on the North’s proposals and sincere efforts to bring change to inter-Korean relations.