SEOUL: The United States and South Korea have begun annual joint military drills near the Korean Peninsula which will last until April 24, despite vocal opposition from North Korea.
The annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle drills will involve nearly 13,000 US forces and some 200,000 South Korean troops.
The Key Resolve maneuver will last for over a week and is a largely computer-simulated exercise, while the eight-week Foal Eagle drill involves air, ground and naval field training.
The US and South Korea describe the annual drills as defensive in nature but Pyongyang has described them as exercises of war.
