By Zhu Lin
HONG KONG, March 11 (Xinhua) -- The annual joint military exercise of the United States and South Korea, which the two parties termed as purely defensive, is feared to dampen the efforts to reopen the six-party talks and may also undermine the volatile inter-Korean relations.
On Thursday, the U.S.-South Korean military exercise, codenamed "Key Resolve/Foal Eagle," has entered the fourth day of its 11-day run.
First launched in 1968, the "routine exercise" by the two militaries has continued to this year without interruption, with only names changed. Also unshaken is the military cooperation between the U.S. and South Korea, which is buttressed by joint exercise and annual ministerial-level Security Consultative Meetings.
This year's drill engages about 10,000 U.S. troops and 8,000 reinforcement personnel for the Key Resolve exercise and it also involves some 20,000 South Korean troops in the Foal Eagle one. It includes live firing by U.S. Marines, aerial attack drills and urban warfare training across South Korea.
The United States and South Korea argued that the joint exercise is aimed at rehearsing the defense of South Korea in case of emergencies and improving combined operational posture between the two militaries, while the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) denounced it as preparation for a nuclear attack.
The joint exercise this year is confronted with more vehement reaction from the DPRK side as its army spokesman declared an end to military dialogue between the DPRK and South Korea and the high command ordered the entire army, navy and air force into a state of alert.
In protest against the joint exercise, the DPRK also threatened to halt its denuclearization process, strengthen its nuclear deterrence and be no longer bound by the truce that ended the 1950- 53 Korean War, as the two sides are technically at war with no peace treaty signed.
SIX-PARTY TALKS FURTHER STALLED
The U.S.-South Korean joint drill came amid a rather sensitive time as various diplomatic efforts are being made to bring the DPRK back to the negotiation table for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
However, the positive signs, which the DPRK had shown during a flurry of inter-Korean talks and a recent exchange of high-level visits between Beijing and Pyongyang, seem to have been reduced to nothing.
The DPRK said in an earlier statement that it will not rejoin the suspended six-party talks, which it quit last April in protest against UN sanctions, or hold further military dialogue only if the joint military drill is dropped and the UN sanctions are lifted.
It also demands the U.S. launch separate talks towards a peace treaty to replace the armistice before it returns to the six-party talks, which involves China, the DPRK, South Korea, the United States, Japan and Russia.
Washington, however, insists that Pyongyang must first come back to the nuclear talks before any discussion of those issues.
"The United States remains willing to engage North Korea (DPRK) bilaterally within the framework of the six-party process," U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as saying on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, U.S. State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley said on Wednesday that Washington will continue imposing sanctions on the DPRK under the UN resolutions adopted after its nuclear and missile tests earlier last year, according to a Yonhap report.
"We are going to continue to enforce (Resolution) 1874 in terms of addressing our concerns about possible proliferation activity involving North Korea," he said.
The remarks were echoed by South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, who had stressed that the DPRK must first agree to bilateral talks on its nuclear programs.
MIXED FUTURE FOR INTER-KOREAN TIES
Positive turns were seen for the tense relations between the two sides of the Korean Peninsula as in August last year, Pyongyang sent a high-level delegation to Seoul to pay tribute at the funeral of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.
The DPRK has since resumed temporary reunions of families separated by the Korean War and offered talks on joint industrial park in Kaesong, one of the symbols of reconciliation efforts between them.
But the inter-Korean relations quickly chilled following the start of the U.S.-South Korean joint military drills on Monday.
"This saber-rattling is pushing the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war. As evidenced by facts, the conservative group (in South Korea) seeks to ignite a war of aggression against the north any moment while steadily deteriorating the inter-Korean relations under the pretext of the nuclear issue," said the Korean Central News Agency in a latest statement on Thursday.
However, non-governmental efforts by the north and south are still going on, aimed to alleviate the escalating tensions on the peninsula arising from the military exercise.
South Korea on Thursday approved a visit by a group of Buddhists to the DPRK later this week after the group's chief met with his DPRK counterpart in January in Pyongyang for talks on strengthening ties, according to Yonhap.
On Wednesday, the South Korean Red Cross delivered 20 tons of skim milk powder for the DPRK children as a part of its aid package.
During the exercise last year, Pyongyang cut off border crossings to Kaesong, where the joint industrial park sits. But this year, the DPRK does not block the passage to the industrial park and transport has not been affected so far.
Analysts in South Korea said that the warnings from the DPRK will not likely cause increased risk to the peninsula, according to local media reports.
South Korean officials have also said that efforts to bring the DPRK back to the disarmament talks are ongoing through various diplomatic channels among the six-party talks countries.
