DATE=8/21/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SOKOR / US MILITARY EXERCISES
NUMBER=2-265678
BYLINE=HYUN-SUNG KHANG
DATELINE=SEOUL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: South Korea and the United States have
opened an annual 12-day military exercise,
despite warnings from North Korea that the war
games could scuttle warming inter-Korean
relations. Hyun-Sung Khang reports from the South
Korean capital, Seoul.
TEXT: North Korea has denounced the annual
military exercises as reckless and provocative.
The North Korean Central News Agency says the
exercises are a betrayal of June's North-South
summit agreement and an open provocation against
the North. It warns the exercises could halt
recent improvements in inter-Korean relations.
But South Korean officials dismiss the warnings,
saying inter-Korean exchanges will continue.
The 12-day computer-simulated exercises - called
Ulchi Focus Len - involve 13-thousand US military
personnel, who will be electronically linked to
U-S military bases in South Korea, Hawaii and the
continental United States.
The annual joint war games are one of the world's
largest computer-assisted war games. It is one a
several types of military exercises held each
year between South Korea and the United States.
They regularly provoke heated reaction from
Pyongyang because the North says it is forced to
step up its military readiness in response, a
considerable challenge for the economically-
devastated nation.
South Korean officials say the military exercises
will be discussed at ministerial-level talks due
to take place in Pyongyang next week.
The two Koreas remain technically at war since
the civil conflict of 1950-1953 ended in an armed
truce without a peace treaty. But since the
inter-Korean summit in June, relations between
the two countries have been thawing rapidly.
Last week, two-hundred separated Korean families
were allowed to be reunited in Seoul and
Pyongyang for four days. The last such meeting
took place 15 years ago. Further reunions were
halted, in part due to North Korea objections to
the annual US-South Korean war games. (signed)
NEB/HK/HSK/JO
21-Aug-2000 03:10 AM LOC (21-Aug-2000 0710 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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