The United States and South Korea began annual large-scale joint exercise, which is designed to respond to North Korean threats of a nuclear strike.

North Korea provokes the United States and South Korea on retaliatory military actions, threatening to launch a nuclear strike on the country. DPRK, in turn, believes that the United States show aggression towards the people of North Korea. North Korean forces "are prepared to mount a pre-emptive retaliatory strike against all attacks of the enemy."

The exercises take place almost a year after North Korean forces fired on the territory of South Korea only a few days after South Korea welcomed the North Korean defector highest rank in decades.

In this regard, North Korea urged to release a statement calling the diplomat a criminal. South Korea fears that North Korea will form a group to kill potential defectors abroad.

The annual exercise will include 25 thousand us troops, most of which are already deployed in Korea, in accordance with the statement of the American troops in Korea. The training aims to "improve the readiness of the Alliance, protect the region and maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula," the statement said.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said that South will be "prepared" for any possible provocations by North Korea. The threat of North Korea come amid new concerns about the increased complexity of the nuclear and missile programmes.
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