NK Appoints New Military Minister, US-South Drills Kicks off

Local Editor

North Korea has replaced the hardline general who headed its armed forces ministry, in a further reshuffling of the top brass by young leader Kim Jong-un.

General Jang Jong-nam was named "minister of the People's Armed Forces" by state news agency KCNA in a report, the third official to take the role since Kim Jong-un formally assumed power in North Korea just over a year ago.
Jang, a relatively unknown general, was previously commander of the First Corps of the Korean People's Army.

Meanwhile, South Korea and a US strike force led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz kicked off Monday a joint naval drill slammed by North Korea as a "wanton" provocation and rehearsal for war.

The two-day exercise began with the departure of the 97,000-tonne Nimitz, one of the world's largest warships, from the southern South Korean port of Busan where it had been docked over the weekend, the US navy said in its statement.

"The operations include integrated flight operations, air defense events, surface warfare training events, precision ship maneuvers, and liaison officer exchanges," it said.
A number of other naval ships including guided-missile cruisers and a guided-missile destroyer will also take part in the drill designed to "reinforce regional security and stability," it added.

The exercise comes as the Korean peninsula is only just emerging from a period of highly elevated military tensions.

The North called the latest exercise with the Nimitz "a grave military provocation" that would trigger a fresh cycle of escalating tensions.
"This is a wanton threat against us... that will push the peninsula to the brink of nuclear war," Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's ruling party, said in an editorial on Monday.
"How could we ever ignore the arrival of such dangerous forces to the South?" it said.

"The warmongers... should never forget that our forces stand fully ready to attack at once in line with operational plans approved by our top command," the newspaper added.

North Korean troops near the disputed Yellow Sea border have been ordered to strike back if "even a single shell drops" in their territorial waters, the North's army command said in a recent statement.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org