S. Korea-US drill kicks off as tensions with North escalate
SOUTH KOREA: South Korean and US troops launched a joint
military exercise Monday, prompting an infuriated North Korea, which has
threatened both countries with nuclear attack, to sever a hotline with
Seoul.
The start of the two-week "Key Resolve" exercise follows a week of
escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula, with North Korea lashing
out over tightened UN sanctions adopted after its third nuclear test
last month. Pyongyang has condemned the joint manoeuvres as a
provocative invasion rehearsal and announced that -- effective Monday --
it was scrapping the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War and voiding
peace pacts signed with the South.
The South's Unification Ministry confirmed that the North appeared to
have carried through on another promise to cut the hotline between
Pyongyang and Seoul. The two sides habitually speak twice a day, but
"the North did not answer our call this morning", a spokeswoman for the
South's Unification Ministry said.
AFP |