South Korea and the United States began annual military drills Monday despite North Korea’s threat of nuclear strikes in response to the exercises that it calls an invasion rehearsal.
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The Unification Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about North Korea’s claims on Saturday. Korean police and fire departments and local governments will also practice drills during the UFG exercise period, which continues until September 2.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry expressed “strong” regret over the North’s warning, saying the drills with the US are defensive in nature.
The Xinhua News Agency, China’s state-run media outlet, argues, “The large-scale joint military drills conducted by South Korea and the United States will jeopardize peace and stability in Northeast Asia, especially after tensions have escalated by the planned deployment of a USA missile defense system in South Korea”.
“The nuclear warmongers should bear in mind that if they show the slightest sign of aggression, North Korea would turn the stronghold of provocation into a heap of ashes with a Korean-style pre-emptive nuclear strike”.
Pyongyang is known for its bellicose rhetoric, but the statement comes at a time of increased tensions on the peninsula.
“These exercises also highlight the longstanding military partnership, commitment and enduring friendship between the two nations, help to ensure peace and security on the peninsula, and reaffirm the US commitment to the alliance”, the statement said.
“North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats are direct and realistic”, Park added. Its announcement of Thae’s defection came with ties between the rivals at one of their lowest points in decades following the North’s nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year.
As a long-time North Korean ally, China has criticized the war games.
On Monday, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said North Korea appeared to have resumed activities aimed at making plutonium earlier this year, but added that signs of this had stopped early in July.
But, she said the domestic turmoil in Pyongyang could cause North Korea to lash out.
Victor Cha, the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told CNN that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is engaging in “much more aggressive” and “much more provocative” behavior than his predecessor and father, Kim Jong Il.
The warning from North Korea comes in the wake of a defection of a senior North Korean diplomat and a US plan to place a defense missile system in South Korea.
On Sunday, the South said its neighbour could resort to assassinations and kidnappings in revenge for recent defections. “It is highly likely that North Korea will make various attempts to prevent further defections and unrest among its people”.
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Mr Thae was described as a “criminal” and “human scum” by the North Korean state media.
