Pyongyang vows "resolute" counteraction to joint U.S., S. Korean exercise
MOSCOW. Aug 22 (Interfax) - The North Korean Foreign Ministry has promised "the resolute and merciless counteraction" to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, a joint U.S.-South Korean military exercise that started on Monday.
"The U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK and nuclear threats including ceaseless war exercises for aggression are bound to meet the resolute and merciless counteraction by the army and people of the DPRK," the North Korean Foreign Ministry's spokesman said in a statement obtained by Interfax on Monday.
The Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise will take place from August 22 to September 2, the South Korean and U.S. Combined Forces Command reported. It is expected that up to 75,000 soldiers and officers will take part in the exercise, including 25,000 from the United States.
Pyongyang labeled the exercise as "a grave military provocation aimed to launch a preemptive nuclear attack on the DPRK [] and a challenge to regional peace and stability."
The U.S. and South Korea "ceaselessly staging offensive joint military exercises for aggression and bolstering up armed forces" in order to justify the formation of the U.S.-Japan-south Korea triangular military alliance and maintain military hegemony in this region".
