British troops will today join forces with the US and take part in a huge controversial military drill despite North Korea warning such ‘reckless behaviour’ could trigger nuclear war.
Around 30 servicemen from the RAF, Navy and Army have flown to South Korea to take part in ten days of land, air and sea war games involving some 80,000 troops.
Washington and Seoul have claimed the annual exercise, Ulchi Freedom Guardian, is merely a defensive drill and acts as a deterrent against a provocative Kim Jong Un.
North Korea’s Supreme Leader believes it is a way for the South to prepare for an invasion and has previously declared it ‘little short of a declaration of a war’.
Yesterday, North Korea warned the US that it will be ‘pouring gasoline on fire’ by going ahead with the games
Despite inflamed tensions and a volley of threats in recent weeks, South Korea, the US and the UK will go ahead with the exercise today, sparking fears Kim Jon Un could respond by firing missiles.
Yesterday, North Korea warned the US that it will be ‘pouring gasoline on fire’ by going ahead with the games.
Pyongyang described it as ‘reckless behaviour driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war’.
An editorial carried by the North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said: ‘The joint exercise is the most explicit expression of hostility against us, and no one can guarantee that the exercise won’t evolve into actual fighting.
‘The Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military exercises will be like pouring gasoline on fire and worsen the state of the peninsula.’
Continuing with its drumbeat of threats, Pyongyang also declared that its army can target the United States anytime, and neither Guam, Hawaii nor the US mainland can ‘dodge the merciless strike’.
It added: ‘If the United States is lost in a fantasy that war on the peninsula is at somebody else’s doorstep far away from them across the Pacific, it is far more mistaken than ever.’
General Sir Chris Deverell, Commander of the UK’s Joint Forces Command, will fly to South Korea in the coming days to join UK troops on the exercise
Past drills are believed to have included simulated ‘decapitation strikes’, which see soldiers carry out trial operations to kill Kim Jong Un and his top generals.
China, North Korea’s closest ally, had previously called for this year’s military exercise to be dropped amid fears it would provoke the North even more as tensions have spiked.
Last week the North’s state-run media outlet warned that the drill in the Korean Peninsula would ‘further drive the situation on the Korean Peninsula into catastrophe’.
Britain’s involvement in the games has been kept quiet amid fears the UK could be dragged into a war of words between North Korea and President Donald Trump.
General Sir Chris Deverell, Commander of the UK’s Joint Forces Command, will fly to South Korea in the coming days to join UK troops on the exercise.
In 2016, the UK sent 22 troops to South Korea, but this year the Ministry of Defence has increased the number to 30.
Combative rhetoric between the nations spiked after Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) last month. It is understood they were capable of hitting Alaska, but not yet the US mainland.
It then emerged US intelligence agencies are now convinced North Korea has produced a miniaturised nuclear warhead that could be fitted on one of its ballistic missiles.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn last week demanded Britain pull out of military exercises with Britain’s closest allies
That sparked an intense warning by President Donald Trump that Washington could rain ‘fire and fury’ on the North.
Pyongyang then threatened to fire a salvo of missiles towards the US territory of Guam – a plan that leader Kim Jong-Un then delayed, but warned could go ahead depending on Washington’s next move.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a longstanding anti-nuclear campaigner, last week demanded Britain pull out of military exercises with Britain’s closest allies.
He said that the UK should not be taking part in any ‘joint exercises’ in the region with the UK’s strategic partners.
He said: ‘Our government must not drag our country into any military action over the Korea crisis, including joint exercises.’
An MoD spokesperson said: ‘This is a routine deployment to one of two long standing annual exercises in the Republic of Korea.
‘As a UN Sending State, we have been taking part for several years in Exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian’
The spokesman added: ‘Over the course of the exercise about thirty UK military and civilian personnel will participate in a variety of posts as part of United Nations Command.
‘They will exercise alongside other Sending States personnel as well as those from the Republic of Korea and the United States.’