The USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier sailed to South Korea for annual joint military exercises, drawing condemnation from North Korea that the war games will worsen tensions amid the crisis over the communist country's nuclear weapons program. A U.S. military spokeswoman said Tuesday that the exercises involving 8,500 American troops and an undisclosed number of South Koreans are "defense-oriented and designed to ensure readiness and the ability to defend the Republic of Korea against external aggression." The exercises on land, sea and air start Sunday and run through March 28. Maj. Carol Schmidt, a spokeswoman for U.S. Forces Korea, said the maneuvers were planned five years in advance. North Korea lashed out at the "U.S. warmongers" and called Washington's explanation of the drills "nothing but a smoke screen to cover up the aggressive nature and danger of those military exercises."
"These military moves are dangerous ones aimed to provoke the second Korean War," the North's KCNA news agency said, citing a signed commentary from the state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun. The Rodong Sinmun was quoted as saying that American and South Korean forces would carry out the exercises "under the simulated conditions of a pre-emptive nuclear attack" on the North.
| By George, there's a scenario we ought to investigate. Just lemme fire up my scenario editor ... |
Schmidt declined comment on the North's hair-brained allegations. |