N Korea Fumes At US, S Korea Military Drill

[Purveyor]

Source: AFP

SEOUL: Tens of thousands of US and South Korean troops on Sunday kicked off a massive drill, sparking immediate anger from North Korea which condemned it as provocative and aggressive.

US aircraft carrier Nimitz has been deployed off the Korean peninsula and about 27,000 American troops would take part in the week-long "Key Resolve" exercise, a spokesman for US troops in South Korea said.

A Joint Chief of Staff spokesman said "a significant portion" of South Korea's 680,000 troops were participating in the exercise, which is due to last until Friday, though Seoul disclosed no exact figures.

The US-South Korean manoeuvres came as international efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes were in a stalemate.

The North's Korean People's Army (KPA) spokesman reacted angrily today, denouncing the drill as "an open and blatant challenge" to the disarmament negotiation and also warning it could retaliate.

The spokesman said in a statement carried by official media that US overtures at six-party negotiations were "nothing but a crafty charade intended to cover up its preparations for a nuclear war" against North Korea.

"If the US and South Korean bellicose forces persistently work to realise their scenario, the KPA will not stand passively on the defensive but counter it with positive retaliatory strikes by mobilising all means long built up by the DPRK at a high price," it said.


Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest_of_World/N_Korea_fumes_at_US_S_Korea_military_drill/articleshow/2831076.cms

[hack89]

1. We have held these exercises for decades

and for decades the North complains.

[MaryCeleste]

2. Indeed, its hard to take them seriously