S Korea, US begin military exercise

SEOUL: South Korea and the United States began a major annual military exercise Monday despite North Korean threats of possible retaliation over what it calls a rehearsal for invasion.

A spokesman for Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the start of Key Resolve, a computerised command post exercise which involves some 200,000 South Korean troops and 2,100 US soldiers including 800 from abroad.

The US military said in a statement that the North had been informed a month ago of the exercise dates and "the non-provocative nature of this training".

But Pyongyang's official news agency Monday described the drill scheduled to end March 9 as "an unpardonable infringement upon the sovereignty and dignity" of the North while it is still in mourning for late leader Kim Jong-Il.

"The army and people of the DPRK (North) are fully ready to fight a war with them," it said, warning Seoul and Washington of possible "catastrophic consequences".

The country's National Defence Commission on Saturday denounced the drill - which will be followed by joint air, ground and naval field training exercise Foal Eagle from March 1 to April 30 - as a "silent declaration of war". (AFP)