North Korea Threatens War Over US-South Korea Military Exercises

Officials See Link Between Operation, South Korean Threat of 'Preemptive Attack'

The ramifications of South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young’s threatened “preemptive strike” against North Korea continue to be felt in the peninsula, as North Korean officials today threatened war over a possible joint military exercise between the south and the United States.

The US proposed the joint operation earlier this month, designed to simulate “all possible contingencies” related to North Korea, including “stabilization” operations in the nation and seizing the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

North Korea’s military said it has issued “repeated warnings” against such exercises, and said they saw a clear link between Defense Minister Kim’s January threat and the sudden call for operations.

Ratcheting up the already rising rhetoric, the military statement added that they would respond with a “powerful military counteraction” including the mobilization of the military and potentially their nuclear arsenal.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.