[Courtesy of Xinhua News]
North Korea ratcheted up its apocalyptic threat with nuclear weapons Monday as South Korean and US troops flexed their muscle with a major joint military exercise.
The North's National Defense Commission, chaired by leader Kim Jong-Un, warned that nuclear strike means targeting US military bases in the Asia-Pacific region and the US mainland are always ready to fire.
"If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to (a sea of ) flames and ashes in a moment," it said in a statement, condemning US-South Korean joint drills as a rehearsal for a nuclear war.
In response, South Korea's defense ministry warned of a "resolute and merciless" retaliation, urging North Korea to stop "brash and self-destructive" threats and actions.
The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises will run from Monday through April 30.
Military officials have described this year's exercise involving some 15,000 US troops and 290,000 South Korean troops as the biggest ever.
Especially the exercise would test a new operational scheme called "Operations Plan(OPLAN) 5015" to prepare the allies for preemptive attacks against North Korea ahead of its possible invasion across the border. Washington will also exercise a quick dispatch of overseas troops to the peninsula.
There are about 30,000 US troops stationed in South Korea. Extra US military assets and personnel will come from abroad for the spring drills that Washington and Seoul insist are purely defensive in nature, but which Pyongyang condemns as provocative rehearsals for an attack on the North.
Cross-border tensions run high following North Korea's nuclear test and rocket launch that prompted the United Nations Security Council to impose tougher sanctions against the nuclear-armed country.
Joint military drills by South Korea and the United States are becoming more offensive-oriented, shifting the focus toward infiltration and preemptive strikes away from defense against North Korean attacks.
Aju News Lim Chang-Won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
