South Korea and the United States launched joint drills Monday involving thousands of troops, defying North Korea's apocalyptic threat to repudiate the 60-year-old Korean War armistice in retaliation.

The start of the two-week "Key Resolve" exercise follows a week of escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula, with North Korea also threatening nuclear war over UN sanctions adopted after its third atomic test last month.

Pyongyang has condemned the annual joint manoeuvres as a provocative invasion rehearsal and announced that -- effective Monday -- it was scrapping the 1953 armistice and voiding non-aggression treaties signed with the South.

The South's Unification Ministry confirmed that the North appeared to have carried through on another promise to cut a telephone hotline between Pyongyang and Seoul.

"The North did not answer our call this morning," a ministry spokeswoman said. The hotline was installed in 1971 and the North has severed it on five occasions in the past -- most recently in 2010.

In a dispatch late Monday from its official news agency KCNA, North Korea restated its view that the armistice, "which has existed for form's sake, would be completely invalid from March 11".

The US-South Korean wargames are "bringing the dark clouds of a nuclear war to hang over the Korean peninsula", KCNA added, while vowing that North Korea's armed forces were ready for an "all-out action".

Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North's ruling communist party, said that with "the ceasefire agreement blown apart... no one can predict what will happen from now on".

Voiding the armistice theoretically paves the way for a resumption of hostilities, as the two Koreas never signed a formal peace treaty and remain technically at war.

"The North is giving the impression it wants to put things back to where they were 60 years ago," said Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

Experts point out that North Korea has declared the ceasefire dead or obsolete nearly a dozen times in the past 20 years.

On the last occasion in 2009, the North specifically said it would no longer guarantee the safety of US or South Korean naval vessels operating near the disputed maritime border.

The sinking of a South Korean naval corvette and the shelling of a South Korean island near the border followed in 2010.

Sabre-rattling and displays of brinkmanship are nothing new in the region, but there are concerns that the current situation is so volatile that one accidental step could escalate into serious confrontation and conflict.

Having issued so many dire warnings, the North will feel obliged to take some provocative action, observers say. Yang predicted short-range missile tests or an incursion across the sea border.

The analyst said he found it "particularly alarming" that North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-Un appeared content to act with no concern for the response of ally China -- widely seen as losing patience with its volatile neighbour.

"Key Resolve" is an annual, largely computer-simulated exercise, but still involves the mobilisation of more than 10,000 South Korean and 3,500 US military personnel. About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea.

The South Korean Defence Ministry says North Korea is expected to carry out its own large-scale military drill along its eastern front this week, involving the army, navy and air force.

North Korean artillery bases on islands close to the disputed maritime border have already placed their cannon in firing positions, ministry officials said.

The North's foreign ministry has already warned that a second Korean War is "unavoidable" and threatened "pre-emptive nuclear attacks" on the United States and South Korea.

The North is not seen as having the ability to deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.

South Korea, which usually shrugs off Pyongyang's fiery rhetoric, has promised to retaliate to any provocation with a precision strike on the North's leadership command.

The surge in tensions is an early challenge to South Korea's new President Park Geun-Hye, who was only sworn in two weeks ago and is still without a confirmed defence minister, national security adviser or intelligence chief.


http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/339857/s-korea-us-drill-starts-as-north-rejects-armistice
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/south-korea/130311/kim-jong-il-north-korea-seoul-nuclear-missile-armistice-video

Front page' please.

Paranoid..... Dem too dey worry

sigh!

na waw hooo

thisisayus: Front page' please.

must you beg in everything you do? please this.. please that.. ah ah

The beginning of Third World War. Another nuclear bomb. I pray make he no smell reach here oo.

north korea vs us
part .....

Trouble!

americo dem fear 26 yr old fati bom bom boy

War thins loading.........

The situation in the Korean Peninsula is getting so tense; I just hop that common sense prevails amongst the key actors there.

The North Koreans will surely be risking a nuclear holocaust of its own populace, if the Pyongyang regime decides to attack either the US or South Korea.

I don't think either China or Russia would be able to come to their aid, once the US retaliates.

Politics I'm sick and tired of it even before I was born

The drills started weeks ago. I don't know what's brewing underground, but on the surface, it seems north korea is being too aggressive.( Why does it always have to be "north")
We all need to pray, cos I fear the north will pull some other countries into the conflit by provoking them with their long range misiles.... I hope it doesn't degenerate to war.

firstolalekan: north Korea, Iran and pakistan will finish US and the wicked Isreal. watch...

That was what saddam said before he went to everlasting sleep. Just recently Ghadafi said thesame . Pakistan has india to worry about while we will use isreal to clear those rag heads.

This war aint really between North and South Korea.Its a battle for supremacy between China and the United States.Or what is the moral justification in the U.S-South Korean military drills(where heavy military and assault artilleries plus fighter jets)were used on the very restive korean waters.What is China's explanation to keeping mute on a very spoilt and restless neighbour who at the slightest provocation threaten its neighbour with nuclear weapons.I just hope the two Koreans aint caught in between when the super powers(China and US)start to flex muscles.The world is watching-(excludin Jonathan pls..he's got his own headache-the boko boys!!)

deterence will settle all this.... I guess.

Archmed: This war aint really between North and South Korea.Its a battle for supremacy between China and the United States.Or what is the moral justification in the U.S-Korea military drills(where heavy military and assault artilleries were used) on the very restive korean waters.What is China's explanation to supportin a very spoilt and restless neighbour who at the slightest provocation threaten its neighbour with "baby bombs".I just hope the two Koreans aint caught in between when the super powers(china and US)start to flex muscles..the world is watching

On point. I'm afraid that the Korean Peninsula may be a new theater for the proxy war between the US and China/Russia.

Real-Mccoy:

That was what saddam said before he went to everlasting sleep. Just recently Ghadafi said thesame . Pakistan has india to worry about while we will use isreal to clear those rag heads.

u dont know the IRAN's mighty. time will tell.
with Russia behind and china sitting on the fence, its going to be a fun war.

[color=#990000][/color] World war III commences: Iran will for sure team up with North korea and isreal will ultimately poke their ever ready war nose. Where does Nigeria stand in all these?

Help me keep dis space first. I dey come make i go read d tin wey dem write.

Gabriel_sylar: a,erico dem fear 26 yr old fati bom bom boy

Dude, this is not just a '26 year old fati bom bom boy', this boy has a nuclear weapon under his command!

I think most countries(esp USA) will be more relaxed if it were an older figure who had experienced the intricacies of world politics and its fluidity relating to his own country.

[quote author=Archmed]This war aint really between North and South Korea.Its a battle for supremacy between China and the United States.Or what is the moral justification in the productss thata militaengaging(where heavy military and assault artilleries were used) on the very . stive korean waters.What iUSAhina's explanation to supportin a very spoilt and restless neighbour who at the slightest provocation threaten its neighbour with "baby bombs".I just hope the two Koreans aint caught in between when the super powers(china and US)start to flex muscles..the world is watching[/quote

China military strength of now is same of that of USA in 1960. Population does not win a war. We fight modern warfare and not that of humans. china should battle making superior products first before engaging big brother in war. Imagine china shooting down satellite in space in 2010 or there about and it made headlines in their country while USA did same thing in 1980.

Make them fight now. Wetin dey hold them?

nigeria wil soon lunch a garri bomb...... Watch out!!!