South Korea-US Joint Exercises, North Korea: Nuclear War Can Be Triggered By Fire

JAKARTA - North Korea's Ministry of Defense urged South Korea and the United States to stop military exercises, saying the drills were war games and warning of the consequences, the government news agency reported on Tuesday.

The South Korean and US militaries began their annual spring exercises on Monday with numbers of troops joining double over last year, in a bid to step up their response to North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats.

Pyongyang reacted angrily to allied military exercises and called them exercises for nuclear warfare. Meanwhile, Seoul and Washington said the drills were defensive and were a response to North Korea's threats.

Unnamed Pyongyang Defense Ministry spokesman said his party strongly criticized what he called "panic and reckless military exercises", urging the exercise to be stopped.

The drill will never be defensive but is an attempt to attack North Korea, the spokesman said, pointing to an increase in the training scale and participation of 11 countries.

"Nuclear war can be ignited even with sparks," the spokesman told Reuters from KCNA March 5.

The United States and South Korea must "pay a heavy price for the wrong choice," the official added, pledging to carry out "military activities to control an unstable security environment."

It is known that the joint military exercise 'Freedom Shield' held by Uncle Sam and Ginseng Country, was also attended by the United Nations Command (UNC) and will end on March 14. This was held when North Korea attempted to develop its nuclear capabilities with missile and other weapons tests.

The drills were primarily designed to neutralize North Korea's nuclear threat, including by "identifying and attacking" cruise missiles, which are indicated to carry nuclear warheads, Seoul military officials said.