South Korea, US begin annual Ulchi Freedom drill, DPRK slams exercise as ‘provocative action’

Tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops have begun a military exercise simulating an all-out DPRK attack. The two-week annual Ulchi Freedom exercise is largely computer-simulated, but still involves 50,000 Korean and 30,000 US soldiers. Pyongyang’s KCNA news agency called the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drill a “provocative action“ against the North. It accused the S. Korea-US coalition of creating “a long-term battle situation” and said it would be prepared to take retaliatory strikes against the milita