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Vol. 73/No. 11      March 23, 2009

 
U.S. war exercises threaten N. Korea
(front page)
 
BY BEN JOYCE  
In a provocative move against North Korea, Washington opened “war games” in South Korea March 9 involving more than 26,000 U.S. troops, 30,000 South Korean troops, and a U.S. aircraft carrier.

The exercise is taking place as North Korea gears up for the launch of a communications satellite, which Washington and Tokyo claim is a missile test and have threatened to shoot down.

The moves are part of more than 50 years of hostility on the part of Washington toward North Korea—since the workers and peasants of that country made a socialist revolution and, in the Korean War, issued U.S. imperialism its first military defeat.

Since then, Washington has maintained a troop presence on the Korean Peninsula and carried out regular exercises with South Korean troops throughout much of the past five decades. The “training exercises” have taken place every year since 1997. This year’s exercise, set to last 12 days, is longer than usual.

North Korea has put its military of more than 1 million members on full combat readiness in response to the hostile maneuvers. It has also cut off all direct communications with Seoul and has said it cannot guarantee the safety of South Korean flights over or near its borders.

In addition to the war games, Washington and Tokyo have said they could shoot down the north’s rocket launch “if necessary,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Pyongyang says that the rocket will carry the Kwangmyongsong 2 communications satellite to be used for peaceful purposes only, while the U.S. and Japanese governments suggest it will be testing the Taepodong 2 ballistic missile. “We’ve indicated our position to them on the question of the missile launch or satellite launch, or whatever they call it,” said Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy to Pyongyang, March 7. “We think it’s very ill advised.”
 
 
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