Tens of thousands of South Korean and American troops have kicked off a large-scale military exercise simulating an all-out attack by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The annual Ulchi Freedom drill is largely computer-simulated. But it still involves over 50-thousand Korean and 30-thousand US soldiers. Both Seoul and Washington insist the drill remains purely defensive in nature, but the DPRK has condemned the joint exercise as "little short of a declaration of war".
Pyongyang had threatened the "strongest military counter-action" if the exercise went ahead. This comes amid high tensions along the Korean Peninsula after South Korea blamed the DPRK for mine blasts that maimed members of a border patrol earlier this month.