ROK, US military drill set to start on Monday

The Republic of Korea and the United States will launch their joint annual war games from next week despite the strong opposition from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Combined Forces Command said on Tuesday.

The "Key Resolve" command post exercise will be held from Monday to March 13, mobilizing about 10,000 ROK troops and 8,600 US forces, including 6,750 US soldiers from overseas, according to the CFC.

The "Foal Eagle" field training exercise will be conducted from March 2 to April 24, involving about 200,000 ROK troops and 3,700 US soldiers, including 3,500 US forces from overseas.

The "Foal Eagle" is a series of combined field maneuver exercise spanning ground, air, naval and special operations.

Seoul and Washington have said they are annually held drills of "defensive" nature to ensure defense readiness of the combined forces, but the DPRK has denounced them as a rehearsal for a northward invasion.

The DPRK called for a suspension of the annual war games between Seoul and Washington this year in return for halting nuclear tests, a proposal flatly rejected by the two countries.

In February 2014, Pyongyang and Seoul held the first high-level talks since ROK President Park Geun-hye took office in early 2013. The senior-level dialogue resulted in the reunion of Korean families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

Despite Pyongyang's call for delay or cancellation of the joint war games, Seoul and Washington staged the "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle" exercises last year as scheduled.

Angering over the drills, the DPRK fired a number of missiles and artillery shells from Feb 21 to mid-August in 2014, while threatening a new form of nuclear test.

Pyongyang fired five short-range tactical missiles into east waters earlier this month in what appeared to protest against the scheduled ROK-US military exercises.

Xinhua - AP - Reuters