N. Korea Blasts SK-US Military Exercise

North Korea yesterday blasted the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian as a "maneuver for nuclear war and war of aggression," warning of "merciless retaliation and a full-fledged war of justice."

The North’s Korea Central News Agency quoted a spokesman for the Panmunjom Mission of the (North) Korean People’s Army as saying in a statement, “Through these nuclear war exercises, the American master and his servant seek to openly call for escalating their sanctions and pressure on the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea."

"If they tighten sanctions and push confrontation to an extreme phase, we will react with a merciless retaliation of our own style and an all-out war of justice.”

The statement sparked fears that Pyongyang might try to escalate its military threats against Seoul since softening them from April. In March, the North disconnected inter-Korean military communication and blocked overland transportation to and from the Kaesong industrial complex and the Mount Kumgang resort area three times.

Since 2006, Pyongyang has denounced Ulchi Freedom Guardian every year as a “preliminary war of northward aggression” and a “nuclear test war,” threatening to counter with “preemptive military action” and a “merciless retaliatory strike.”

The drill is a command post exercise conducted through computer simulation without mobilization of military troops. It is carried out under Operational Plan 5027 drawn up by the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command to defend against a preemptive strike by the North.

zeitung@donga.com