US and South Korea begin military manoeuvres

Feb 28, 2011, 16:50 GMT

Seoul - The armed forces of South Korea and the United States on Monday launched planned joint military exercises as the North denounced the drills as preparations for an invasion.

About 200,000 South Korean and 12,800 US troops were to take part in the 11-day exercises, known as Key Resolve and focused on computer-based war games, the Yonhap News Agency reported, quoting officials from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The manoeuvres were to be followed by field training exercises under the name Foal Eagle, planned to run until April 30.

The drills were meant to reinforce the US-South Korean alliance and 'demonstrate our mutual commitment to defending the Republic of Korea,' a statement by the US-South Korean Combined Forces Command said.

On Sunday, the North Korean military issued a statement condemning the drills, which it said were meant to 'examine the practicability of the adventurous 'plan on local war' against the DPRK,' the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Pyongyang said it would 'respond to reckless provocation by the aggressors with an all-out war at any time' and turn Seoul into a 'sea of fire.'

South Korean officials said their own military alert status on the border had been raised but that 'so far, no unusual movement' had been detected.

'But it is observed that the North put its military on a higher alert,' a Joint Chiefs of Staff official was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

The drill was the first scheduled joint exercises between the US and South Korea since tensions with Pyongyang were heightened when North Korea in November shelled a South Korean island near their disputed maritime border, leaving four dead.

Recent meetings between the Koreas have failed to lead to higher-level military talks as the North refused South Korean demands to admit responsibility for the shelling and the deadly sinking of a South Korea naval vessel in March.

The US is a formal ally of South Korea since it supported Seoul in the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a ceasefire and no peace treaty, leaving the two neighbours still technically at war.

About 28,500 US soldiers are stationed in South Korea.