News / Koreas

US, South Korea begin massive military drill amid North warning

Monday, 22 August 2016 5:14 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 22 August 2016 5:27 AM ]

South Korea and US Marines take part in a joint military drill at a fire training field in the southeastern port of Pohang on July 6, 2016. ©AFP

Tens of thousands of troops from South Korea and the US have launched a massive military exercise, prompting North Korea to pledge retaliation against what it calls an invasion rehearsal.

The annual two-week “Ulchi Freedom Guardian” maneuver, which is largely computer-simulated, started on Monday with the participation of 50,000 Korean and 30,000 US soldiers.

Seoul and Washington say the drill is purely defensive in nature. North Korea, however, views the drill as willfully provocative and a rehearsal for an actual attack on the country.

The Korean People's Army (KPA) issued a statement Monday morning, threatening a “preemptive retaliatory strike” should the US-led war drills threaten Pyongyang’s sovereignty.

“The first-strike combined units of the KPA keep themselves fully ready to mount a preemptive retaliatory strike at all enemy attack groups involved in Ulchi Freedom Guardian,” Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

“The nuclear warmongers should bear in mind that if they show the slightest sign of aggression on the inviolable land, seas and air where the sovereignty of the DPRK is exercised, it would turn the stronghold of provocation into a heap of ashes through Korean-style preemptive nuclear strike,” the statement added.

In Seoul, anti-war activists held a protest rally to condemn the annual joint military exercise.

Holding placards reading "Stop war exercise," the protesters gathered near the US embassy in the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Monday.

Anti-war activists hold placards reading "Stop war exercise" during a rally denouncing the annual joint military exercise near the US embassy in Seoul on August 22, 2016. ©AFP

North Korea said in January it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, its fourth nuclear test, and vowed to build up its nuclear program as deterrence against potential aggression from the US and its regional allies.

A month later, Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket which it said placed an earth observation satellite into orbit. Washington and Seoul denounced it as a cover for an intercontinental ballistic missile test.

North Korea says it will not abandon its nuclear “deterrence” unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and dissolves the US-led command in South Korea. Thousands of US soldiers are stationed in South Korea and Japan.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir