Pyongyang says any territorial violations during annual US-South Korea military exercises will be met with force.
North Korea has warned of a “merciless” response if its territorial boundaries are violated during large-scale military drills involving US and South Korean forces.
Pyongyang on Thursday reacted to the start of the annual war games with its typical fiery rhetoric, but recent missile and nuclear tests by the North give the usual threats an added weight.
The military drills between Seoul and Washington always rile North Korea, which calls the exercises a rehearsal for an invasion. This year’s manoeuvres began on Wednesday.
The North will “mercilessly foil the nuclear war racket of the aggressors with its treasured nuclear sword”, an unidentified spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency.
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He said the North’s reaction will be the toughest ever but didn’t elaborate.
“Should the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces fire even a single shell into the waters where the sovereignty of our Republic is exercised, the KPA will immediately launch its merciless military counter-actions,” the statement said.
