N. Korea on alert for S. Korea-U.S. joint military drill

SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea Monday ordered it army and people to be on
a "special alert," denouncing a joint military exercise by South Korea and the
United States as a "grave threat" to peace.
It also vowed to retaliate any provocation with a "merciless and prompt
annihilating strike at the aggressors with all offensive and defensive means
including nuclear deterrent involved," the communist state's military supreme
said in a report delivered by its official news agency.
The remarks come as South Korea and the United States will start their join
military exercise on Monday. The North has called it a prelude to an invasion but
Seoul and Washington refute the claim, saying the exercise is purely defensive.
The two Koreas are still technically at war, since the Korean War ended in an
armistice, not in a permanent peace treaty. They keep millions of troops deployed
on both sides of the border.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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