While U.S And South Korea Militaries Drill, 'Bombast Continues' From The North
As NPR's Louisa Lim reported Monday on Morning Edition, a week of inflamed rhetoric from North Korea — including talk of a preemptive nuclear strike on the U.S. — is being followed by word that the North has carried through on its threat to annul the 1953 armistice that ended open warfare on the peninsula and has stopped answering calls on the telephone hotline to the South.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and South Korean militaries have begun their annual joint military drills — exercises that the North views as provocative. Tensions, always high on the Korean peninsula, have been ratcheted up even further.
Here's more from Louisa's report:
South Korean news is headlining Operation Key Resolve: war games involving 13,000 U.S. and South Korean soldiers. Every year, it's a time of tension. But this year, the North seems to be acting on its threats. A hotline between the South and North rang unanswered today. And Pyongyang's state mouthpiece is warning the ceasefire that ended the Korean war is now invalid.
A South Korean official reportedly told parliament that unilateral cancellation isn't legally binding. Pyongyang has made that threat half-a-dozen times before. But this time the context is different.