The annual drill will include 25,000 United States troops, the bulk of which are already stationed in Korea, according to a statement by U.S. Forces Korea.
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Although they are largely computer-simulated, the training drills still involve 25,000 USA troops and 50,000 South Korean soldiers.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry expressed strong regret over the North’s warning, saying the drills with the U.S. are defensive in nature.
-South Korean military drill, North Korea threatened to launch a “preemptive nuclear strike” against South Korea and the USA, according to reports.
The exercise takes place nearly exactly one year after North Korean troops shelled South Korean territory and only days after South Korea welcomed the highest-ranking North Korean official defector in decades.
Park said the South Korean military was on high alert and would “vigorously strike back” in the event of any hostile action.
How this cunning strategy would work with largely computer-simulated wargames is anyone’s guess, but it is widely assumed that North Korea’s exceptionally vicious response this year is due to the defection of diplomat Thae Yong Ho in London.
The possibility of a terrorist attack or other provocations by North Korea is increasing as Kim Jong Un’s regime struggles to stem defections of key government officials, South Korean President Park Geun Hye said at a national security meeting Monday.
The South Korean government is also on guard of probable cyber attacks.
Twenty-five thousand U.S. troops are taking part in the exercises, due to end on September 2, exercises the North says are preparations for an invasion.
An official from South Korea’s Unification Ministry said the defection of North Korea’s deputy ambassador in London was helping put the North in “a very hard situation”. -South Korean military exercises.
North Korea then publicly “executed” six officials in front of their families after they were blamed for allowing workers to reach the South.
Seoul’s unification ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee told a press briefing that it was very regrettable for the DPRK to distort and denounce the “annually-held defensive” exercise, urging Pyongyang to make a right choice by stopping nuclear and missile developments and avoiding provocative acts.
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U.S. Navy Lt. Jeff Bowman, U.S. 7th Fleet planner, works with his Republic of Korea counterpart August 21, 2008, during the final stages of exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian at an undisclosed location. “Mr. Thae said he was sick and exhausted of North Korean society and that he admires western style liberties as reasons for defecting”, the Unification Ministry official said.
