US and S Korean troops begin joint war games

The two-week operation, called Ulchi Focus Lens, features computer simulation drills involving an unspecified number of South Korean troops and 14,500 US troops, the South Korean defense ministry said.

"Some 6,500 US soldiers based in the United States, Japan and Guam have been mobilized for the exercise which involves no field training," a US military official told AFP.

It is one of the three major joint exercises staged by the allies annually to deter North Korea, he said.

Washington says Ulchi Focus is purely defensive, while North Korea insists it is part of Washington's preparations to topple the Stalinist country.

South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun, wearing a uniform for civil defense drills, chaired a cabinet meeting Monday to check preparations for a separate anti-terrorist exercise called Hwarang.

As part of Hwarang, civilians and goverment officials will stage drills to cope with chemical and biological terror attacks.

The North's official KCNA news agency insisted Monday that Hwarang would "foster the atmosphere of confrontation" on the Korean peninsula.

Ulchi Focus comes a week after President George W. Bush annou-nced plans to reorganize US forces in Europe and Asia.

The United States plans to slash its number of troops in South Korea by one-third by next year. About 33,900 US troops are now stationed in South Korea after 3,600 of them left for Iraq in early August.

The realignment sparked security jitters among South Koreans. US ground troops have served as a guarantee since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War that an invasion of the South would immediately draw in the United States.

South Korea, which is still technically at war with communist North Korea, had wanted the troop cut to be delayed. Washington insists any withdrawal will not weaken its deterrent against North Korea.