SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. and South Korea on Monday began annual war games involving tens of thousands of troops, prompting North Korea to call its military into “full combat readiness,” saying it views the land and sea exercises as a prelude to an invasion.
The hostilities raised tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest point in weeks as the U.S. and its allies anxiously awaited North Korea’s test launch of its most advanced long-range missile.
North Korean officials late last week declared that the isolationist nation could not guarantee the safety of South Korean passenger jets flying near its airspace during the 12-day exercises. Several airlines immediately announced that they would avoid North Korean airspace as a precaution.
Northern officials cut off a military hotline, leaving North and South Korea unable to communicate during the escalating brinkmanship.
South Korea expressed regret Monday over the suspension of a crucial channel of contact.
Hundreds of South Koreans working in the Kaesong joint industrial zone in North Korea were initially stranded there, but the North agreed early today to allow them passage across the border.
U.S. military officials in South Korea tried to defuse tensions while stressing that the exercises, which will be larger in scale and duration than before, would continue.
U.S. Army Gen. Walter L. Sharp, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, insisted that the war games were “a routine training exercise that takes place every year at about the same time. It is not tied in any way to any political or real- world event.”
