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US, South Korea start joint exercises
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-23 06:15
The participants in the multinational talks China, Japan, DPRK, ROK, Russia, and the United States met for nearly two weeks in Beijing in late July and early August and are set to reconvene next week in the Chinese capital.
The DPRK regularly condemns the Ulchi Focus drills, accusing the United States of planning to invade its territory.
The DPRK characterized this year's exercises as "fraught with greater danger of invasion as they are scheduled to take place at a time when the US war preparations have reached their final phase," the official Korean Central News Agency said on Saturday.
The "joint sabre-rattling will be staged at a time when the process of reconciliation and unity is being promoted between" the two Korean states, the KCNA report said.
About 32,500 US troops are stationed in the ROK as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.
In front of the ROK Defence Ministry in Seoul, some protesters demonstrated against the drills, waving blue and white placards that said: "Stop! War Exercises" and "Sign! Peace Treaty."
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