On Monday, the North’s military said it was prepared to launch a retaliatory strike against the South and the United States in response to the annual drills called Ulchi Freedom Guardian, in which about 25,000 us troops are participating.
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“[The games] officially got under way on Monday”.
North Korea has been hit by five sets of United Nations sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006. The U.S. -led U.N. Command Military Armistice Commission said it notified the North Korean army the exercises were “non-provocative” in nature.
Elise says the latest war games come amid high tensions on the peninsula.
The January nuclear test heightened North Korea’s isolation as the global community, backed by the North’s main diplomatic protector China, imposed substantially upgraded economic sanctions.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry announced last week that a senior North Korean diplomat based in the United Kingdom had defected to the South. Thae Yong Ho, the second highest-ranked official at the North Korean embassy in London, was among seven diplomats who have defected this year, according to Joongang Ilbo newspaper, which cited government officials.
BUILT FOR THE KILL Two-week annual Ulchi Freedom exercise is largely computersimulated, but still involves 50,000 South Korean and 30,000 USA soldiers.
South Korean media said no land mines are allowed near the Panmunjom truce village under the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
The January nuclear test heightened North Korea’s isolation as the global community, backed by the North’s main diplomatic protector China, imposed substantially upgraded economic sanctions.
The North calls the exercises preparations for invasion, and early on Monday threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike. Over the past five years in particular, the Obama administration has repeatedly exploited exercises with South Korea to make a menacing show of force in North East Asia. South Korea denies they were kidnapped.
“As the North Korean regime has been repressing its people with its continued reign of terror while ignoring the livelihoods of its citizens, even the loyalty of North Korea’s elites has begun to crumble”, Ms Park was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.
The US is boosting its defence ties with South Korea as part of its “pivot to Asia” and war drive against China.
In a press note, the UNC said, “we are aware of the Korean People’s Army activity in the vicinity of the Bridge of No Return in Panmunjom”. The strength of North Korean society comes from unfailing belief in their leadership and ideological solidarity, especially in the ruling class, and it has a potential to encourage others to do the same, though I suspect that the North Korean regime will tighten security and surveillance measures to prevent such moves in the coming days. The North expressed regret for the incident, without directly admitting to planting them.
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North Korea said Saturday that a senior North Korean diplomat who recently defected to South Korea is a criminal and “human scum”, in its first official response to the defection.
