N Korea warns of war as S Korea, US exercise begin

World

N Korea warns of war as S Korea, US exercise begin

Close

Pyongyang condemned the manoeuvres as provocative and warned that all-out war could erupt.

16 August,2011 12:18 pm

South Korea and the United States launched a massive joint military exercise on Tuesday, prompting the North to condemn the manoeuvres as provocative and warn that all-out war could accidentally erupt.The two allies have described the 10-day Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise as defensive and routine but the North habitually terms such joint drills a rehearsal for invasion and launches its own counter-exercises.The exercise started this morning, a spokesman of the US-South Korea Combined Forces Command (CFC) said, referring to the annual computer-assisted simulation command-post exercise.All of CFCs major units are taking part, involving more than 530,000 troops, including some 3,000 military personnel from the United States and other bases around the Pacific region, CFC said.US General James D. Thurman, Combined Forces Command Commander, said the drill was focused on preparing, preventing and prevailing against the full range of current and future external threats to South Korea and the region.We are applying lessons learned out of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as those garnered by the Alliances recent experiences with North Korean provocations on the peninsula and past exercises, he said.Pyongyang condemned the exercise as extremely provocative, calling it a preparation for an all-out war against the North and the largest-ever nuclear war exercise.The Korean peninsula is faced with the worst crisis ever. An all-out war can be triggered by any accidents, the Norths ruling communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary.Seoul and Washington wanted to use the latest exercises to build up their capability to mount surprise attacks on the Norths nuclear and missile facilities, it said.