Dubbed Foal Eagle, the military maneuvers in the field involve the simulation of large-scale movement of troops in the Korean Peninsula. Washington and Seoul’s Combined Forces Command, established in 1978, also conducted a computer-based war drill called "Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration." The exercises include large simulated battles near the so-called Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), along the border dividing the Korean peninsula.

U.S. imperialism imposed the division of the country, with Moscow’s complicity, at the end of the 1950–53 Korean War. Washington has maintained it with tens of thousands of troops ever since, despite overwhelming sentiment for reunification among Koreans on both sides.

The simulated engagement is described by the military think tank GlobalSecurity .org as occurring at the stage when "a war with north Korea is imminent, but actual fighting has not yet begun." The month-long exercises began March 7.

On March 21, U.S. Marines and south Korean soldiers staged an amphibious landing maneuver in Phohang, in the south, supported by jet fighters from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. The carrier was deployed last February to the area as part of Washington’s latest escalation against the DPRK. U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld also ordered the U.S. Air Force to send long-range bombers to the area.

The list of fighter planes being used in the exercises includes the A-10 Thunderbolt, F-15E Strike Eagle, and F-16C Fighting Falcon, as well as the F-117 Nighthawk. U.S. military commanders said that the last time the F-117 was seen in the Korean Peninsula was some ten years ago.

The DPRK government denounced the military exercises as an "intolerable provocation," which threatened rapprochement efforts.

"A dangerous military aim is sought in staging such maneuvers in the area very close to the military demarcation line," said the north Korean paper Rodong Sinmun.

"We cannot but take seriously the large-scale frantic test nuclear war [as] a preliminary war against the DPRK staged by the U.S. on the sidelines of the Iraqi war," said the daily Korean newspaper. "It is becoming certain that in case the U.S. imperialists’ invasion of Iraq is ‘successful,’ they will wage a new war of aggression on the Korean peninsula...to invade the DPRK after occupying Iraq."

U.S. commanding officers in south Korea claimed that the exercises were not intended to "inflame" north Korea, and that the maneuvers were not offensive.

"We are not changing anything about this exercise because of tensions on the peninsula," Brig. Gen. James Coggin told the Washington Post March 24. "It takes place every year and was planned long ago. It is normal, routine."

He added, however, that the recent escalation of tension between the two countries is a reason for combat readiness. "It does reiterate that the call could come," Coggin said. "We are ready to fight tonight if we have to."

Tensions escalated earlier this year when U.S. government officials accused the DPRK of planing to use its nuclear power plant to produce weapons-grade plutonium for manufacturing a nuclear bomb, after the north Korean government withdrew from the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and kicked out inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Washington ordered two dozen B-52 and B-1 bombers to Guam, in order to give it the military option to strike the north’s nuclear plant at Yongbyon. It also stepped up aerial and naval spying of the DPRK. On March 2, four north Korean MiG fighter jets trailed a U.S. RC-135 spy plane for 20 minutes over the Sea of Japan. The incident was the closest such encounter between the two governments in 35 years.

Washington’s accusations against the DPRK as a "nuclear threat" notwithstanding, the latest escalation is a continuation of five decades of military and economic aggression against the north Korean workers state by U.S. imperialism. Washington has sought to smear Pyongyang as a "terrorist regime," depicting the north as a potential aggressor against neighboring countries and the United States.

Since the stalemate at the end of the Korean war, Washington has kept 37,000 troops stationed there. It also maintains another 48,000 troops in Japan, as well as the nuclear-armed U.S. Seventh Fleet patrolling the area.

According to a March 22 Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) dispatch, Washington asked Tokyo to allow its warning and control plane e-767 to fly above waters of the Korean Peninsula under the pretext of "ensuring security" for U.S. electronic reconnaissance planes overflying the DPRK.

The March 28 New York Times reported that the Japanese government is considering adding Tomahawk and Patriot PAC-2 missiles to its current arsenal of short-range Patriot rockets. With a 650-mile range, the Patriot PAC-2 could hit targets in north Korea.

Seeking to lessen its dependency on the U.S. government for intelligence gathering, Tokyo put into orbit the first two of its own eight military spy satellites March 28. The satellites, which carry radar equipment and cameras, will allow Japan to monitor north Korea, reported the Times.

The DPRK, which recently test-fired two short-range missiles, had warned that Tokyo’s launching of satellites could prompt it to drop a five-year-old, self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile testing.

The north Korean government has reiterated its right to self-defense by any means necessary. "There is no law allowing Japan to launch a satellite into space," a DPRK foreign ministry official told KCNA, while banning north Korea from doing so.  
 
 
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