Tensions set to escalate with war games on Monday

World War 3: US sends military to North Korea BORDER as tensions with Pyongyang escalate

The Express,

19 August, 2017

THE United States and South Korea are preparing to roll out their armies across the North Korean border as the threat of World War 3 intensifies.

The daring move from Washington and Seoul follows "Armageddon trade" between Pyongyang and the Pentagon over Kim Jong-un’s threat to blast US territory Guam with nuclear missiles, which looked as though it was reaching boiling point last week.

But when Donald Trump warned the despot the US is “locked and loaded”, ready to respond to any strike, tensions simmered.

Yet when troops land on the peninsula, just miles form Jong-un’s territory, explosive consequences are feared.

A staggering 80,000 troops will be involved in the military drills along with hundreds of thousands of first responders and civilians.

The Ulchi-Freedom Guardian war games are computerised command and control exercises which take place every other year.

But this year, it will be amid huge tensions over a nuclear war - which has, at times, appeared on the verge of kicking off.

Experts have claimed the drills taking place from August 21 to 31, are more important than ever, while they are rejected by China.Nuclear weapons may not be Jong-un’s mode of attack, experts said, as information emerges over the country stockpiling chemical weapons.

Military commanders fear it will spark provocation from North Korea, as Pyongyang could launch more Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).

So far this year, ordnance has been blasted into waters outside Japan, while Pyongyang threatens mainland USA and the US territory of Guam.

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North Korea latest news blasts accuse US of aggression over war games

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Scott Snyder, a Korea specialist with the Council on Foreign Relations, said: “Over the course of the next two weeks I expect tensions to escalate. 

“This is always a sensitive issue, but it is more hair-trigger as the North Koreans are very sensitive to the likely additional nuclear-capable aircraft flyovers.”

China’s Global Times newspaper, carried an angry editorial over the United States and South Korea games which will ahead from Monday.

The newspaper said: “The drill will definitely provoke Pyongyang more, and Pyongyang is expected to make a more radical response. 

“If South Korea really wants no war on the Korean Peninsula, it should try to stop this military exercise.”

The US currently has 12 bases in South Korea and Japan and since Trump took the White House, has been vocal over the territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

In the last games, in 2015, North Korea and South Korea exchanged fire over their joint border.

Army Colonel Chad Carroll, a military spokesman in South Korea said: "Our messaging will remain consistent.These exercises are necessary to maintain readiness in the face of provocative acts threatening the (Republic of Korea) and the US. 

to provide our leadership with viable military options if called upon, and exercises like this hone our ability to do that.”