North Korea has called on the South Korean government to break away from ideas from the Cold War era and drastically change its North Korea policies.
 
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the gazette of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said Wednesday that now is the time for South Korea to make a resolute decision.
 
The paper went on to say that joint defense drills with foreign powers must first stop, calling them products of hostile policies against the Korean people.
 
The report blasted the South Korea-U.S. joint maritime drills that kicked off on Wednesday using expressions such as "the source of the collapse of inter-Korean ties" and a "malignant tumor destroying South-North relations."