A small group of pro-North Korean, anti-war protesters are expressing their anger over joint military drills by the US and South Korea. Here’s why.
Joint military drills by the US and South Korea spark anger in the region.
A small group of anti-war and pro North Korea protestors denounce the annual drills, dubbed Key Resolve, as an impediment to peace between the two Koreas, which is technically still at war because they never signed an official peace treaty after their conflict in the early 1950's.
[You Young-Jae, Anti-War Protest Leader]: (Korean)
"The Key Resolve exercise, which is obviously not for defense but for attack, is against the current peaceful situation. South Korea and the US should stop the Key Resolve drill, which is a practice to attack North Korea."
Pyongyang says it is no longer bound by the armistice because of the military exercises.
The North warns that it will bolster its atomic arsenal, even as it has come under pressure to resume disarmament talks.
The government frequently uses its news broadcast to spread rhetoric that war is imminent.
[KRT News Reader]: (Korean)
"This evermore undisguised and adventurous saber-rattling is creating such a tense situation on the Korean Peninsula that a war may break out any time.
The United States and South Korea frequently hold joint military drills involving some of the 28,000 US troops stationed in the country.