North Korea Prepared to Blow Up Enemies as U.s. Drills Begin
North Koreas armed forces “should keep themselves fully ready to go into action in order to blow up the citadel of aggressors,” the countrys Supreme Command said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. The U.S.- South Korea drills are raising tension on the Korean peninsula that “a war may break out any time,” the statement said.
The annual South Korea-U.S. “Key Resolve” drills will continue until March 18, according to the Combined Forces Command in Seoul. The exercises “will include a full range of equipment, capabilities and personnel,” the command said in a statement on its Web site, without providing details.
North Koreas military order came a day after the country threatened to bolster its nuclear weapons program should the joint exercises proceed as announced. The communist nation in 2009 cut off inter-Korean military hot lines and barred South Koreans from border crossings to protest similar drills.
All military dialogue with the U.S. and South Korea will be suspended as long as the drills continue, a military spokesman said yesterday in a KCNA statement.
South Korea and North Korea remain technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a cease-fire, which was never replaced by a peace treaty. North Korea wants talks on signing a treaty to begin before it returns to six-nation discussions on ending its nuclear weapons program.
Routine Nature
About 18,000 U.S. soldiers and more than 20,000 South Korean troops will participate in this years military drills, Yonhap News reported yesterday.
The U.S. and South Korea have already notified the North Korean military of the “routine nature” of the exercises, the Combined Forces Command said in the statement. The drills are “designed to improve the commands ability to defend” South Korea, according to the statement.
An official at South Koreas Defense Ministry confirmed that the drills have commenced, without providing further details and requesting anonymity because of ministry policy. Calls to the public affairs department of the United States Forces Korea in Seoul were unanswered.
The U.S. and South Korea take part in the six-party talks on North Koreas nuclear weapons ambition. The talks, also involving China, Japan and Russia, last met in December 2008.