S. Korea, U.S. notify N. Korea of annual joint military drill

SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- The United States and South Korea will hold their
annual joint military exercise next month, officials said Wednesday.
The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercise, slated for March 8-18, will draw 18,000
U.S. troops from bases here and abroad, slightly smaller than usual, Kim
Yong-kyu, a Combined Forces Command (CFC) spokesman, told reporters.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against
North Korea, which is technically still at war with the South as their 1950-53
conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
Seoul and Washington have "already informed (the North) Korean People's Army
about the exercise dates," the CFC said in a press release, adding the drill "is
designed to improve the command's ability to defend" South Korea.
The joint drill comes a few days after Seoul proposed to Pyongyang that their
working-level military officials meet to discuss restrictions hindering
transportation and communications in and out of the Kaesong joint factory park in
the North.
North Korea, which routinely calls the joint drills preludes to a preemptive
attack, has yet to reply to the military talks proposal.
Some 25,000 U.S. troops, tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers and a
nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier took part in last year's exercise, which is
the largest joint U.S.-South Korea exercise along with the Ulchi Freedom
Guardian.
North Korea has been raising military tensions with the South, firing artillery
shells into waters near their border for three days in a row last month. Analysts
say that Pyongyang's provocative gesture may be part of its attempt to highlight
the necessity of a peace treaty to replace the 1953 Korean War armistice.
North Korea, which operates a military of 1.2 million troops, is believed to
possess enough plutonium to build at least six atomic bombs and conducted two
nuclear tests in 2006 and last year.
hayney@yna.co.kr
(END)