SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean and US troops began large-scale military exercises yesterday in an annual test of their defences against North Korea, which called the drills “nuclear war moves” and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.
South Korea said the exercises would be the largest ever following North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month that triggered a UN Security Council resolution and tough new sanctions.
Isolated North Korea has rejected criticism of its nuclear and rocket programmes, even from old ally China, and last week leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons in the face of what he sees as growing threats from enemies.
The joint US and South Korean military command said it had notified North Korea of “the non-provocative nature” of the exercises involving about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry said it had seen no sign of any unusual military activity by NorthKorea, but Seoul’s spy agency said it would hold an emergency meeting today to check readiness against cyber attack after detecting evidence of North Korean attempts to hack into South Korean mobile phones.
North Korea’s National Defence Commission said the North Korean army and people would “realise the greatest desire of the Korean nation through a sacred war of justice for reunification”, in response to any attack by US and South Korean forces.
“The army and people of the DPRK will launch an all-out offensive to decisively counter the U.S. and its followers’ hysterical nuclear war moves,” the North Korean commission said in a statement carried by the North’s KCNA news agency.
North Korea, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as it is officially known, routinely issues threats of military action in response to the annual exercises that it sees as preparation for war against it.
The US State Department said the United States took North Korean threats to use nuclear weapons seriously and urged Pyongyang to halt provocations.
