N. Korea showing no unusual activity as S. Korea-U.S. war game kicks off

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is showing no unusual activity after it
said it put its military on a special alert against a joint war game by South
Korea and the United States that kicked off on Monday, an official said.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian drill involves 10,000 U.S. troops and 56,000
South Korean soldiers and is set to end on Aug. 27.
North Korea routinely denounces the computer simulation-assisted drill as a
prelude to invasion while South Korea and the United States defend it as purely
defensive.
Earlier Monday, the North Korean army said in a message carried by the communist
state's official media that it ordered its troops to be on "special alert."
The 1.2-million-strong military also vowed to launch "a nuclear deterrent" should
South Korea and the United States attempt to invade its country.
"It is routine denunciation," South Korean defense spokesperson Won Tae-jae said
in a briefing. He said the special alert was put into effect for the North Korean
army whenever the South and the U.S. held a joint war game in the past.
"The alert appears to be a defensive measure. No unusual military activity has
been observed in the North," he said.
North Korea remains at war with South Korea and the U.S. after the 1950-53 Korean
War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
The U.S. has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, and the South and the North
have each built up massive forces on their side of the Demilitarized Zone.
North Korea conducted its second nuclear test in May. South Korea and the U.S.
refuse to consider the country a nuclear power even though they believe Pyongyang
has plutonium enough to make up to six nuclear bombs.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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