{"id":35928,"date":"2017-08-21T12:50:35","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T12:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=35928"},"modified":"2017-08-21T12:50:35","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T12:50:35","slug":"us-s-korea-military-exercises-explicit-expression-of-hostility-n-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=35928","title":{"rendered":"US-S Korea military exercises \u2018explicit expression of hostility’: N Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Trump-Nkorea\"International desk: North Korea warned Sunday that the United States will be \u201cpouring gasoline on fire\u201d by conducting an annual war game in the South next week amid heightened tensions between Pyongyang and Washington.<\/p>\n

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Combative rhetoric between the nations spiked after Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) last month that appeared to bring much of the US within range, sparking an intense warning by President Donald Trump that Washington could rain \u201cfire and fury\u201d on the North.<\/p>\n

Pyongyang then threatened to fire a salvo of missiles towards the US territory of Guam — a plan that leader Kim Jong-Un last week delayed, but warned could go ahead depending on Washington\u2019s next move.<\/p>\n

Amid the fiery volley of threats, Seoul and Washington will begin Monday the \u201cUlchi Freedom Guardian\u201d (UFG) joint military exercises involving tens of thousands of troops that Pyongyang views as a highly provocative rehearsal for invasion.\u201cThe joint exercise is the most explicit expression of hostility against us, and no one can guarantee that the exercise won\u2019t evolve into actual fighting,\u201d said an editorial carried by the North\u2019s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military exercises will be like pouring gasoline on fire and worsen the state of the peninsula,\u201d the paper said.Warning of an \u201cuncontrollable phase of a nuclear war\u201d on the peninsula, it added: \u201cIf the United States is lost in a fantasy that war on the peninsula is at somebody else\u2019s doorstep far away from them across the Pacific, it is far more mistaken than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seoul and Washington have said the largely computer-simulated UFG exercise, which dates back to 1976, will go ahead as planned, but did not comment on whether the drills would be scaled back in an effort to ease tensions.Around 17,500 US troops will participate in this year\u2019s drills — a cutback from last year — according to numbers provided by Seoul\u2019s defence ministry.<\/p>\n

But South Korea\u2019s Yonhap news agency reported the allies were mulling scrapping an initial plan to bring in two aircraft carriers to the peninsula to take part in the drill.<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s top military officer said Sunday that the current security situation on the peninsula was \u201cmore serious than at any other time\u201d amid the North\u2019s growing nuclear and missile threats, and warned Pyongyang of merciless retaliation against any attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the enemy provokes, (our military) will retaliate resolutely and strongly to make it regret bitterly,\u201d said General Jeong Kyeong-Doo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in his inauguration speech.AFP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International desk: North Korea warned Sunday that the United States will be \u201cpouring gasoline on fire\u201d by conducting an annual war game in the South next week amid heightened tensions between Pyongyang and Washington. Combative rhetoric between the nations spiked after Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) last month that appeared to bring much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n