US, South Korea launch largest military drills amid North Korea’s threats

Asia-Pacific, News, US March 7, 2016 , by IRIA No Comments

North Korea issued a new threat against the U.S. and South Korea as the allies began major joint military exercises.

The United States and South Korea have launched their largest ever joint military exercise on Monday (7 March 2016) amid rising tensions in the Korean peninsula following recent nuclear and missile tests by Pyongyang and the subsequent imposition of UN sanctions.

More than 300,000 South Korean and 15,000 U.S. troops will take part in the drills, Yonhap news agency reported, citing a military official.

About 2,100 Marines and sailors along with the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard and the amphibious dock landing ships Ashland and Germantown recently arrived in South Korea for exercise Ssang Yong 16, which began on March 2 and lasts until March 20, Marine Corps officials said.

The two countries will begin their annual Key Resolve/Foal Eagle military drill, with this year’s expected to be the largest-ever. The Ssangyong (Double Dragon) amphibious exercises will also begin Monday and will last until Mar. 18.

“We will carry out these exercises while keeping tabs on signs of North Korean provocations,” the South Korean spokesperson said.

Held every two years, the exercise involves U.S. and South Korean troops conducting amphibious operations for possible disaster relief or wartime missions, said 2nd Lt. Joshua Hays, a Marine Corps spokesman.

Foal Eagle — a field exercise also involving US strategic assets including a naval fleet led by an aircraft carrier and nuclear-powered submarines — is also expected to be far bigger than before.

Pyongyang denounces US-South Korea military drills

Ahead of U.S.-South Korean military drills, North Korean TV says the U.S. will be “held accountable for igniting war.”

“We have cutting-edge attack methods to beat up the U.S. mainland at anytime and from anywhere. Also we have diligently developed and deployed Juche (self-reliant) weapons in the era of the Workers’ Party of Korea, which enables us to fire strong artilleries,” North Korean TV said.

According to a statement read on the North’s state-controlled KRT TV station on Sunday, North Korea threatened retaliation, saying US would be to blame if war broke out.

“The US is working hard to turn the Korean Peninsula into the theatre of a war, not content with slapping its unreasonable ‘sanctions’ against the DPRK (North Korea) over its self-defensive H-bomb test and satellite launch for peaceful purposes,” according to a statement by a foreign ministry spokesman.

“No one can vouch that the do-or-die confrontation between the DPRK and the US will not spill over to a global thermonuclear war,” said the statement quoted by the North’s official news agency.