U.S., South Korea Begin Large-Scale War Games

US and South Korea begin military drills in the face of nuclear threat from North Korea

The United States and South Korea began military drills off the Korean peninsula in defiance of threats from North Korea that it would respond with a "nuclear deterrent".

By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai

The drills, code-named "Invincible Spirit" will run until Wednesday and involve around 8,000 American and South Korean troops, 20 ships and submarines and 200 aircraft.

The US said the exercises are designed to send a potent message to North Korea that it must renounce its "aggressive behaviour".

Ahead of the drills, North Korea said it was ready to launch a "retaliatory sacred war" and vowed to use its "nuclear deterrent".

North Korea regularly threatens attacks whenever the US and South Korea hold joint military drills, which Pyongyang claims are rehearsals for a full-scale invasion.

However, tensions are running particularly high in the wake of the sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean warship, with the loss of 46 lives, in March.

Pyongyang has also expressed its rage over new US and European Union sanctions designed to weaken the regime.

Yesterday, the Korean Central News Agency quoted an unnamed North Korean Foreign ministry spokesman accusing the US of trespassing on North Korean borders it said the drills were as "reckless an act as waking a sleeping tiger".

"We are not interested in a war of words with North Korea," a US State department said. "What we need from North Korea is fewer provocative words and more constructive action."

Operation Invincible Spirit is the first military exercise simultaneously conducted in the Sea of Japan off Korea's east coast and in the Yellow Sea closer to China. China expressed its unease at the arrival of the US navy so close to its submarine routes, especially because of the presence of the USS George Washington, a Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered 97,000-ton aircraft carrier carrying 80 aircraft including F-18 fighter jets and the E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft.

Also for the first time, the new F-22 Raptor, the latest US stealth jet, will fly training missions in Korean airspace. In terms of the number of military assets involved in the drill, this week's exercise is the largest since 1976, which were staged in response to the murder of two US officers by North Korean soldiers in Panmunjom. "By displaying the sheer size of military capabilities, the drills will deliver a stark warning to North Korea," said Rear Admiral Kim Kyung-shik of the South Korean Navy.

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