13,000 troops begin war game

F-22s, B-52s involved in Key Resolve

By Kang Seung-woo

About 13,000 ROK and U.S. soldiers were mobilized Monday, the start of an 11-day joint military exercise, Key Resolve, rehearsing maneuvers to repel a North Korean attack.

An unidentified number of F-22 Raptors and B-52 strategic bombers as well as Aegis equipped destroyers are also involved amid rising tension caused by threats from Pyongyang to stage an all-out war.

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said that there have been no signs of hostilities so far.

However, the North has severed a communication hotline at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom as threatened.

Additionally, the Stalinist state declared that the armistice agreement which halted the Korean War in 1953 is “no longer valid.” It also warned that it is bracing for a “showdown with enemy forces.”

The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North’s Workers Party, said, "The undefeated might of the military will now target the United States and by destroying the evil empire herald the historic start of a unified country."

The Key Resolve exercise is primarily a computer simulation and is scheduled to run through March 21. It involves more than 10,000 Korean and 3,000 U.S. troops _ about 2,500 of whom are located outside Korea including the U.S. Pacific Command military headquarters in Hawaii.

“Key Resolve is a critical exercise for strengthening the readiness of combined Korea and United States,” said Gen. James Thurman, the Combined Forces Command commander (CFC).”

In addition, this year’s joint maneuvers will be the first to be led by Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and are therefore expected to help improve the Korean military’s operational command capabilities and establish a basis for a transition of wartime operational control, scheduled for December 2015.

This will mark the first time Korea’s JCS will have planned and executed the combined exercise.

Along with the recently tightened U.N. sanctions, Pyongyang has denounced the military drill in the South as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North and engaged in brinkmanship again.

It has threatened to turn Seoul and Washington into a “sea of fire” claiming it has the nuclear capability to strike its foes. This culminated in cutting the hotline with the South.

This is the third time that the North has unilaterally severed this after doing so in 2008 and 2010.

“We gave a call to the North at 9 p.m., but it didn’t go through,” said an official of the ministry. The line is tested each day.

In addition, it was confirmed that, Hyon Yong-chol, the highest ranking general of North Korea’s military inspected the border village of Panmunjom, Saturday, raising speculation that the Kim Jong-un regime might conduct provocative action in the Joint Security Area or the Demilitarized Zone.

For its part, the MND said the South’s military is ready to combat any provocations from the North.

“Although there is no sign that the North’s moves are worth close observation, we are fully bracing for attacks from North Korea,” MND spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a briefing.

A high-ranking official said that there was no need so far to take any “specific” action.

“The dog that barks loud does not bite,” he said.

“What country in the world wages a war after declaring war. A surprise attack is the basic tactic of war.”