South Korea, US begin joint military drills amid warnings from North

The United States and South Korea have launched their annual joint military exercises near the Korean Peninsula despite warnings from North Korea.

Following the start of the week-long drills on Monday, Pyongyang cut off its hotline with Seoul.

South Korean Defense Ministry Spokesman Kim Min-seok said, “It’s true that North Korea isn’t answering the communication hotline that runs through the Panmunjom at the moment.”

North Korea had cut off the Red Cross hotline, which was installed in 1971, on five occasions in the past, most recently in 2010.

The large-scale military exercises, which involve 10,000 South Korean soldiers and about 3,000 US troops, came a week after the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang over its third nuclear test, which was carried out on February 12.

On Monday, anti-war activists in the South Korean capital, Seoul, held a demonstration against the joint military exercises.

Meanwhile, North Korea condemned the maneuvers as a launch pad for a ‘nuclear war,’ saying it is scrapping the 1953 Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War.

North Korea had also said a second Korean War would be “unavoidable” if the United States and South Korea refused Pyongyang’s calls to cancel their large-scale joint drill.

Last week, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un told his country’s armed forces to prepare for an ‘all-out war.’

On March 7, Pyongyang threatened to launch “preemptive” nuclear strikes on the United States to defend itself in the event that Washington ignited a nuclear war.

The South Korean Defense Ministry says North Korea plans to conduct its own large-scale military drill along its eastern border this week.