South Korea, U.S. begin exercises as North Korea threatens attack

South Korean and U.S. troops
began large-scale military exercises on Monday in
an annual test of their defenses against North
Korea, which called the drills "nuclear war moves"
and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.
South Korea said the exercises would be the largest
ever following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in
January and a long-range rocket launch last month
that triggered a U.N. Security Council resolution
and tough new sanctions.
Isolated North Korea has rejected criticism of is
nuclear and rocket programs, even from old ally
China, and last week leader Kim Jong Un ordered
his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons in
the face of what he sees as growing threats from
enemies.
The joint U.S. and South Korean military command
said it had notified North Korea of "the non-
provocative nature of this training" involving about
17,000 American troops and more than 300,000
South Koreans.
South Korea's Defence Ministry said it had seen no
sign of any unusual military activity by the North.
North Korea's National Defence Commission said
the North Korean army and people would "realize
the greatest desire of the Korean nation through a
sacred war of justice for reunification", in response
to any attack by U.S. and South Korean forces.
"The army and people of the DPRK will launch an
all-out offensive to decisively counter the U.S. and
its followers' hysterical nuclear war moves," the
North Korean commission said in a statement
carried by the North's KCNA news agency.
The North, the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK), as it is officially known, routinely
issues threats of military action in response to the
annual exercises that it sees as preparation for war
against it.
The threat on Monday was in line with the usual
rhetoric it uses to denounce the drills.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei noted
that North Korea had already said it opposed the
drills, adding that Beijing was "deeply concerned"
about the exercises.
"China is linked to the Korean Peninsula. In terms
of the peninsula's security, China is deeply
concerned and firmly opposed to any trouble-making
behavior on the peninsula's doorstep. We urge all
sides to keep calm, exercise restraint and not escalate
tensions," he told a daily news briefing.
The latest U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea
were drafted by the United States and China as
punishment for its nuclear test and satellite launch,
which the United States and others say was really a
test of ballistic missile technology.
South Korea's spy agency said it would hold an
emergency cyber-security meeting on Tuesday to
check readiness against any threat of cyber attack
from the North, after detecting evidence of attempts
by the North to hack into South Korean mobile
phones.
South Korea has been on heightened cyber alert
since the nuclear test and the rocket launch.
South Korea and the U.S. militaries began talks on
Friday on the deployment of an advanced anti-
missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence
(THAAD) system in South Korea.