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Korean war games spark warning

The blast of the main gun on a M1A1 Abrams tank during a live-fire exercise in the joint drills
The blast of the main gun on a M1A1 Abrams tank during a live-fire exercise in the joint drills  


SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- Amid sagging U.S.-North Korean relations, South Korean and American forces have launched their biggest war games since 1953 -- exercises described by Pyongyang as a prelude to attack.

The week-long drills, which began on Thursday, simulate a conflict with the communist North and combine for the first time the annual "Foal Eagle" field exercise with a computerized war game.

They include amphibious assaults and landings and will involve most of the United States' 37,000 troops in South Korea, others based in Japan as well as soldiers from South Korea's 650,000 strong army.

Foal Eagle is described by the U.S. Pacific Command as a counter, infiltration, and field-training exercise to improve interoperability and mission readiness between U.S. and South Korean forces.

In past years more than 500,000 combined forces have been involved in the computerized simulation alone, meaning that the combined exercises are the largest involving U.S. and South Korean forces since the 1950-53 Korean War.

'Dangerous play'

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The war games have been denounced by Pyongyang as preparations for a pre-emptive attack on North Korea, which boasts an army of about 1.1 million.

The North has filed over 100 complaints about the drills, the South Korean-based Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday.

According to the Korean Central News Agency, the North's Communist Party's newspaper, the Rodong Sinmum, said the U.S-South Korean war games were a "dangerous play with fire aimed to invade the North".

"If the aggressors ignite a war on this land at any cost, they will face punishment unprecedented in war history and will be bound to drink a bitter cup of defeat," the paper was quoted as saying.

Although the U.S.-South Korean Combined Forces Command (CFC) has said the drills are purely defensive, they come at a time of major strain in the Korean peninsular.

North Korea had been smarting over comments from U.S. President George W. Bush including the communist state in an "axis of evil", with Iraq and Iran, intent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

However, relations between the two countries plummeted to a new icy low after the leaking of a Pentagon nuclear capability review.

The review listed North Korea as among seven nations on a list of U.S. nuclear targets.

Strong words

U.S. troops during 'Foal Eagle' exercises in 1999
U.S. troops during 'Foal Eagle' exercises in 1999  

The details of the nuclear review have prompted strong words from the Asian nation and a threat to pull out of a crucial nuclear deal with the United States. (Full story)

North Korea warned the United States it would be "grossly mistaken" if it chose to attack the communist state with nuclear weapons and it would take "counter-measures" against the review.

The Bush administration has taken a tough line on North Korea and has called on Pyongyang to prove that it has halted a suspected nuclear weapons campaign. (Full story)

Heightening tensions, the Pentagon this week said it had proposed selling South Korea the state-of-the-art Aegis air defense system to beef-up defenses against the North. (Full story)

For its part, South Korea has been pushing for a resumption of dialogue between the two foes.

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung on Wednesday said that North Korea had "no other choice" but restart talks with the United States if it was to survive politically or economically. (Full story)

North Korea has so far refused U.S. offers for unconditional talks.



 
 
 
 







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