Chinese Foreign Ministry: U.S. and South Korean drills near North Korea undermine peace and stability in the region
US and South Korean military exercises near North Korea are worsening the arms race, undermining the nuclear non-proliferation system as well as regional peace and stability, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a briefing on Friday.
South Korea and the United States on Thursday conducted the first of five live-fire exercises in the largest ever joint combined military exercises.
“These actions completely ignore détente on the Korean Peninsula, they will only exacerbate the arms race, undermine the nuclear non-proliferation system and undermine regional peace and stability,” the diplomat said.
Mao Ning said China is paying close attention to the developing situation on the Korean Peninsula and is concerned about the actions of the parties concerned in stitching together a “small military circle” to conduct military exercises.
It was earlier reported that South Korea and the US will hold the largest ever joint live-fire exercise on Thursday amid celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the two countries’ alliance this year and intensified efforts to bolster North Korea’s deterrence. The exercise was the first in six years to be held at the Pocheon Proving Ground.
The exercise at the Seungjin military training range, located just 30 kilometres from the military demarcation line separating South and North Korea, involved combined US-South Korean forces and combined forces of all branches of the South Korean army practicing “retaliatory strikes and crushing” of a simulated enemy in case of armed provocation.
A similar exercise at the Seungjin range will be conducted on June 2, 7, 12 and 15.
Similar large-scale live-fire exercises began in June 1977 and have been organised 11 times since then.
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