Northern Korea condemned joint military exercises on Monday 10 March between the United States and South Korea, seeing it as a “provocation”, and warned of the risk of triggering a war by “a single accidental shot”, a few days after the Air Force in Seoul has been mistakenly bombed a village located on its own territory. “This is an act of dangerous provocation which aggravates the situation in the Korean peninsula and which could trigger a conflict between the two parties through a single accidental shot,” said the Pyongyang Ministry of Foreign Affairs, quoted by the state media.
The joint exercise of Washington and Seoul, called “Shield of Liberty 2025” (“Freedom Shield” in English), must start on Monday and include “live, virtual and field training”, according to a statement from the United States. The exercise will continue until March 21, according to the press release.
Military cooperation between the United States and South Korea regularly arouses convictions from Pyongyang, whose government considers these exercises as preparation for an invasion, and often performs missile trials.
“Unidentified ballistic missiles”
In fact, Pyongyang shot on Monday “several unidentified ballistic missiles”, announced the South Korean army. “Our army will strengthen surveillance and maintain a complete state of preparation in close cooperation with the United States,” said the joint staff.
The exercise “Freedom Shield” comes after two fighter of the South Korean air force accidentally dropped eight bombs in a village during a joint training exercise with American forces on March 6. Fifteen people, including civilians and soldiers, were injured during this incident, said the National Fire Agency in South Korea.
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been at the lowest in years, the North having launched a series of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions. The two Koreas were technically at war since their 1950-1953 conflict ended with an armistice and not with a peace treaty.
The United States park tens of thousands of soldiers in the south, in part to protect Seoul against Pyongyang. The large -scale exercises of the “shield of freedom” constitute one of the most important annual joint exercises of the allies. Last week, Pyongyang denounced Washington’s “political and military provocations” following the visit of the American nuclear nuclear propulsion carrier Uss Carl Vinson in the South Korean port of Busan (South-East).