N Korea ire fails to end wargames

South Korean troop numbers are not specified

US and South Korean marines have been engaged in military exercises near the border with North Korea, despite calls from Pyongyang to cancel them.

North Korea accused Washington of planning to use the exercises, which are held annually, as a cover to launch a military strike.

But the US authorities have said they are purely defensive.

North Korea had threatened to expand its nuclear programme if the military exercises went ahead.

US officials say the exercises are defence-orientated and scheduled years in advance.

But a North Korean state news agency statement last week spoke of increasing the quality and quantity of the nuclear programme in response to a US military threat.

It said it was impossible to have productive talks with a party carrying a dagger in its belt.

Six-nation talks in Beijing last month failed to reach agreement on a US demand for the full dismantling of the nuclear programme.

Marine presence

The exercises began on Monday, and include live-fire operations in Uncheon, 18 km south of the demilitarised zone.

They involve some of the 37,000 US troops based in South Korea and another 5,000 from abroad. The number of South Korean troops has not been disclosed.

The US marine commander, General Wallace Gregson said the presence of US marines on the peninsula was at its largest since 1994.

The manoeuvres coincided with a visit to Pyongyang by Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, the first by a Beijing official of this rank for five years.