S. Korea to strongly tackle DPRK's provocations during joint drills with U.S.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said on Monday that its military will strongly deal with possible provocations from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) when conducting joint annual war games with the United States.

Defense Ministry Spokesman Kim Min-seok told a routine press briefing that the "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle" are annually-held military exercises of "defensive" nature that are conducted jointly by Seoul and Washington to defend possible DPRK invasion of South Korea.

Kim said it is the government's principle that if the DPRK provokes or threatens South Korea citing these exercises, South Korea will not sit back and watch the DPRK and will strongly respond to any threats and provocations.

The spokesman said that linking the military exercises of " defensive" nature to inter-Korean relations is not right, adding that those exercises have no relations with ties between South Korea and the DPRK.

Pyongyang called for the suspension of joint war games between Seoul and Washington this year in return for its suspension of nuclear tests, a proposal flatly rejected by the two countries.

The "Key Resolve" command post exercise and the "Foal Eagle" field training drill are scheduled for early March to April. Endi