South Korean, US military start annual war games

Aug 16, 2011, 8:27 GMT

Seoul - South Korea and the United States began an annual joint military exercise Tuesday in South Korea, officials said, amid heightened tensions with the North.

The forces were to run computer-generated conflict simulation across several command posts until August 26, a spokesman for the United States Forces Korea (USFK) said.

'We are applying lessons learned out of Iraq and Afghanistan,' said General James Thurman, commander of the USFK and the joint US-Korean forces.

The latest edition of operation Ulchi Freedom Guardian, first launched in 1975, would also make use of 'the alliance's recent experiences with North Korean provocations on the peninsula,' Thurman said.

Tensions have been running high between the Koreas, still technically at war since the 1950-53 ended without a formal peace declaration. Skirmishes at sea cost around 50 lives in 2010.

Pyongyang said the drills were directed at the North, and 'would further aggravate the already strained situation on the peninsula and increase the danger of a nuclear war.'

North Korea had reportedly called for the annual drill to be called off, in the context of recent discussions to resume stalled multinational talks on its nuclear weapons programme.