North Korea has threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike against South Korea and the United States after the two allies began annual military exercises, with tensions already running high after the defection of one of Pyongyang's top diplomats in London.
Tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops are taking part in the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drill, which runs until September 2nd.
“They should properly know that from this moment the first-strike combined units of the KPA [Korean People’s Army] keep themselves fully ready to mount a pre-emptive retaliatory strike at all enemy attack groups involved in Ulchi Freedom Guardian,” the North’s news agency KCNA said in a report.
The US-led UN Command Military Armistice Commission said it notified the North Korean army that the exercises were "non-provocative" in nature.
The statement said North Korea would “terminate the ever more reckless moves of the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces for a nuclear war not temporarily but indefinitely”.
Such inflammatory statements are common but the region is already tense since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s government carried out its first nuclear test in January, earning tougher sanctions from the international community.
Seoul responded by saying the US could deploy the advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) by the end of 2017, which it says will act as a deterrent to Pyongyang. The decision has angered the Chinese and the Russians, who see it as American interference in their territory, as well as the North Koreans.
Defection
North Korea's deputy ambassador to London, Thae Yong-ho, recently defected with his wife and children, South Korea's unification ministry said last week, and there are reports the diplomat had knowledge of Mr Kim's foreign exchange operations in Europe, which would be a blow to overseas earnings for his government.
Mr Thae was described as a “criminal” and “human scum” by the North Korean state media.
In April, a group of 13 North Koreans working at a state-run restaurant in China defected to South Korea.
South Korea's president Park Geun-hye said that the defection of the diplomat, as well as other senior figures of late, could lead to unrest in Pyongyang and she said there signs of "serious cracks" in the government.
“As the North Korean regime has been repressing its people with its continued reign of terror while ignoring the livelihoods of its citizens, even the loyalty of North Korea’s elites has begun to crumble,” Ms Park was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.
Additional reporting agencies
