US, South Korea to kick off largest drills in five years

SEOUL: South Korea and the United States were set to kick off their largest joint exercises in five years on Monday , after nuclear-armed Pyongyang warned such drills could be seen as a"declaration of war".

In a rare move, the Seoul military this month revealed that it and Washington special forces were staging"Teak Knife" military exercises - which involve simulating precision strikes on key facilities in North Korea - ahead of Freedom Shield.It has said its nuclear weapons and missile programmes are for self-defence.

South Korea, for its part, is eager to reassure its increasingly nervous public about the US commitment to so-called extended deterrence, in which US military assets, including nuclear weapons, serve to prevent attacks on allies. This Freedom Shield training is the first since that happened, meaning it"will be very different -- both qualitatively and quantitatively -- from previous joint exercises that took place in recent years," he added.

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