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 North Korea traditionally demands the South to call off the
drills, scheduled for February and March this year, labeling them as
a prelude to invasion, but this year it also suggested both sides
take steps to ease tension, including a moratorium on mutual verbal
attacks.
"The Key Resolve and the Foal Eagle exercises will go ahead as
scheduled ... (South Korea) is a democratic country so we do not
engage in preemptive strikes," South Korean Defence Ministry
spokesman Kim Min-seok said at a briefing.
Tension soared early last year as Pyongyang reacted angrily to
tightened U.N. sanctions imposed in response to its latest nuclear
test. North Korea said it would retaliate against any hostile moves
by striking at the United States, Japan and South Korea, triggering
months of fiery rhetoric.
South Korea also said the North's latest demand, carried in a long
statement issued by its National Defence Commission, was
disingenuous, as it insulted the South even while North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un called for improved ties.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, told a daily news
briefing that improving relations accorded with the interests of
both countries.
"We hope both sides can mutually express good intentions, adopt
practical measures to improve relations between the north and south,
and make efforts to push development of the regional situation in a
stable direction," Hong said.
The two Koreas have yet to come up with any substantial measures to
reduce military tension on the world's last Cold War frontier.
More than 60 years since the end of 1950-53 Korean War, the two
sides remain technically at war as the conflict ended with an
armistice rather than a treaty.
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But analysts say the North cannot risk igniting a conventional
military conflict it would almost certainly lose.
Many North Korea watchers believe it could instead launch another
long-range rocket or push ahead with a nuclear test. It has
conducted three nuclear tests, the last one in February last year.
The North could also stage another artillery attack on South Korean
territory as it did in 2010, and risk provoking a military response
from Seoul that could trigger a wider conflict.
The North's rocket launches are banned under U.N. resolutions
because they are viewed as part of a process of proving the
technology for an intercontinental nuclear weapon.
Kim, who took power two years ago after the death of his father, Kim
Jong Il, has pursued his father's military policies, including those
aimed at obtaining nuclear strike capacity.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park; additional reporting by Michael Martina
in Beijing; editing by Jack Kim, Nick Macfie and Clarence Fernandez)
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