The communist state of North…
The communist state of North Korea vowed Tuesday to respond to the military drills conducted jointly by the U. S. and South Korea with “merciless retaliation, ” according to North Korean state-run Korean Central News Agency.
On Monday, 17,500 U. S. troops joined with 50,000 South Korean soldiers for 10 days of joint military exercises. These drills, which are held annually, prepare both militaries for a possible attack from Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.
This year, the drills began in the midst of heightened tensions with North Korea. Washington and Pyongyang had been trading threats and shows of strength for weeks and culminated with North Korean President Kim Jong Un threatening to strike Guam.
Kim backed down after the U. S. issued serious threats of retaliation and China said that it would abandon North Korea should it strike first.
According to USA Today, Pyongyang gave KCNA a statement that said the U. S. and South Korea “should take the whole responsibility for catastrophic results from (a) reckless war game.”
Pyongyang also accused the U. S. and South Korea of conducting drills for a “beheading operation” designed to remove Kim from power, according to the Washington Post. Pyongyang added that the annual drills could be a pretext for the joint forces to strike at the Kim regime.
“No one can vouch that these huge forces concentrated in South Korea will not go over to an actual war action now that the military tensions have reached an extreme pitch in the Korean Peninsula, ” the Kim government said through KCNA. “Moreover, high-ranking bosses of the U. S. imperialist aggressor forces flew into South Korea to hold a war confab. Such huddle is increasing the gravity of the situation.”
According to the Post, Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of the U. S. Forces in Korea, said that the drills will continue to happen every year until the joint forces “have reason not to, ” and the reason “has not yet emerged.”
Adm.
