SEOUL (Reuters) - North
Korea said on Monday it had put
its army on full combat alert,
ready to "blow up" South Korea
as joint drills between the
South and the United States got
underway.
The drills, seen by Pyongyang as
nuclear war manoeuvres, last for
about two weeks and are aimed at
testing the allies' defence
readiness. They draw fiery
rhetoric from the North each
year that fuels tensions on the
Korean peninsula, though they
have been held for decades
without major incident.
"The units of the three services
of the KPA (Korean People's
Army) should keep themselves
fully ready to go into action in
order to blow up the citadel of
aggressors once the order is
issued," the North's KCNA news
agency quoted its military
command as saying.
The comments were made after
China, the North's main
benefactor, said it wanted
stalled nuclear disarmament
talks resumed before July. It
urged all parties to the
six-country forum, including the
United States and South Korea,
to try harder.
The North has come under
pressure to return to the
disarmament-for-aid nuclear
talks because of U.N. sanctions
imposed after a May 2009 nuclear
test.
The North said at the weekend
that any talks to denuclearise
the Korean peninsula would
"naturally come to a standstill"
because of the drills. North
Korea conducted "live fire"
exercises near sea borders with
the South earlier this year.
Sanctions have dealt a blow to
its wobbly economy, and a
botched currency move late last
year has sparked inflation and
rare civil unrest.
The two Koreas are technically
still at war because their
1950-53 conflict ended with an
armistice and not a peace
treaty.
The Resolve/Foal Eagle drills
involve about 18,000 U.S.
troops, U.S. Forces Korea said,
with 8,000 coming from abroad
and 10,000 already stationed in
the South.
