DPRK slams upcoming US-South Korea military drills

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) warned Sunday that the US will be "pouring gasoline on fire" by conducting annual war games with South Korea next week amid heightened tensions between Pyongyang and Washington.

Combative rhetoric between the two nations spiked after Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) last month that appeared to bring much of the US within range, sparking intense warnings from President Donald Trump that Washington could rain "fire and fury" on the DPRK.

South Korean and US soldiers watch from an observation post during a joint live firing drill at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, northeast of Seoul, on April 26, 2017. /AFP Photo

The DPRK then threatened to fire a salvo of missiles towards the US territory of Guam, a plan that leader Kim Jong Un delayed last week, but warned could go ahead depending on Washington's next move.

Amid the fiery volley of threats, Seoul and Washington will start the "Ulchi Freedom Guardian" (UFG) joint military exercises on Monday involving tens of thousands of troops that Pyongyang views as a highly provocative rehearsal for invasion.

"The joint exercise is the most explicit expression of hostility against us and no one can guarantee that the exercise won't evolve into actual fighting," said an editorial carried by DPRK's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

South Korean K2 tanks fire live rounds during a joint live firing drill between South Korea and the US at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, 65 km northeast of Seoul, April 26, 2017. /AFP Photo

"The Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military exercises will be like pouring gasoline on fire and worsen the state of the peninsula," the paper said.

Warning of an "uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war" on the Korean Peninsula, it added, "If the US is lost in a fantasy that war on the peninsula is at somebody else's doorstep far away from them across the Pacific, it is far more mistaken than ever."

Seoul and Washington have said the largely computer-simulated UFG exercise, which dates back to 1976, will go ahead as planned but did not comment on whether the drills would be scaled back in an effort to ease tensions.

Around 17,500 US troops will participate in this year's drills－a cutback from last year－according to numbers provided by Seoul's defense ministry.

South Korea's Hyunmu-2 Missile System (L) and US M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (R) firing missiles into the East Sea on July 5. /AFP Photo‍

But South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported the allies were considering scrapping an initial plan to bring in two aircraft carriers to the peninsula to take part in the drill.

South Korea's top military officer said Sunday that the current security situation on the Korean Peninsula was "more serious than at any other time" amid DPRK's growing nuclear and missile threats and warned Pyongyang of merciless retaliation against any attack.

"If the enemy provokes, (our military) will retaliate resolutely and strongly to make it regret bitterly," said General Jeong Kyeong Doo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in his inauguration speech.

Source(s): AFP