N. Korea urges S. Korea, U.S. to call off joint military exercise

By Kim Kwang-tae
SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has urged South Korea and the United States to cancel their annual joint military exercise next week, linking the proposed move to better relations with Seoul and Washington.
The move comes as South Korea and the United States prepare to mobilize tens of thousands of troops in the computer simulation war game to enhance their ability to deter North Korea's possible aggression.
The two sides also plan to practice removing North Korean weapons of mass destruction during the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise set to run from Aug. 16 to 26, according to a South Korean official.
The North has frequently accused South Korea and the U.S. of plotting to launch a nuclear war on the North, a charge that Seoul and Washington have repeatedly denied.
The North's army mission at the border village of Panmunjom demanded Sunday that Seoul and Washington call off the drill to show their commitment to improving their ties with Pyongyang.
"They must officially make public their willingness to cancel the military exercises targeted against the army and people of the (North), if they want to normalize the relations with the (North)," the North's army said in a letter to South Korea and the U.S., according to the county's official Korean Central News Agency.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries quickly brushed off the demand, saying Monday that they will proceed with the drill.
The North's demand is not unusual, but the latest one comes amid signs of easing tensions that had been sparked last year by the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on the North and the North's shelling of a South Korean border island.
Nuclear envoys of the two Koreas met on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Indonesia last month, which paved the way for a rare meeting between North Korea and the U.S. on how to resume long-stalled talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.
South Korea has also offered 5 billion won (US$4.7 million) in emergency relief aid to North Korea to help it recover from devastating floods.
The North's military mission said the normalization process should begin with an end to hostile relations.
Pyongyang has long yearned to sign a peace treaty with Washington as a way to improve their relations after decades of enmity following the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty
The U.S. keeps some 28,500 troops in South Korea as a legacy of the war.
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