US, S.Korea begin another war game

The US and South Korean militaries will stage their second joint exercise starting Monday, Reuters reported Sunday.

The drill comes a week after Seoul completed its own drills near a disputed maritime border off its west coast.

About 30,000 US soldiers will take part in the 10-day exercise, AFP cited a US military spokesman as saying, adding that an unspecified number of soldiers based in the US would join in via computer networks.

Some 56,000 South Korean soldiers will be mobilized for the computerized war game, called "Ulchi Freedom Guardian," a US Department of Defense spokesman said.

General Walter Sharp, who heads some 28,500 US troops based in the South, described the exercise as "one of the largest joint staff directed theater exercises in the world."

According to Pyongyang's official KCNA News Agency, the military of North Korea warned Sunday that the war game "represents the phase of practical actions aimed at a full-dressed military aggression."

Washington and South Korea say the exercises are defensive and designed to deter Pyongyang.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly expressed firm opposition to activities of foreign military vessels or planes in the Yellow Sea.

Wang Jiarui, chief of the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party, warned visiting South Korean officials Wednesday that the exercise might "lead to greater conflicts" in the region.

The PLA (People's Liberation Army) Daily, two days in row, published editorials condemning the possible entry of the US navy into the Yellow Sea.

"The US and South Korea both have their own needs for military exercises. Seoul, which relies on US help, wants to put pressure on the North. ... Washington will not only demonstrate its dissatisfaction toward Pyongyang, but also show other countries in the region that it is still the biggest military power in the world," wrote Yang Yi, former director of the PLA National Defense University's Institute for Strategic Studies.

Agencies - Global Times