North Korea Nuclear Test a Week After U.S.-South Korean War Game

TIM SHORROCK: I think the significance is in that statement you read from the North Korean official agency there, which is that this test is aimed at stemming the hostility of the United States. And I think for the last couple months, and actually couple of weeks, they’ve increasingly been focused on the role of the United States, the role of the United States military in South Korea and the whole Asian region. And they’ve been talking a lot about these massive war games that the United States and South Korea take that take place almost every year, and which one took place last week. And they see the United States and these war games as very hostile and as a threat to their sovereignty, as they put it.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain what the U.S. and South Korea are doing. What are these exercises that they’re involved in?

TIM SHORROCK: Well, every year the United States and South Korea hold very large military exercises. There’s different ones. There’s one called "OPLAN 5098" ⁵⁰²⁹ that they—North Koreans take particular umbrage at, which is basically a practice run of regime change in North Korea. It’s ostensibly to prepare for a collapse of the regime. But what they do is they practice first-strike nuclear capability. They practice invading North Korea. They practice taking over the territory of North Korea and having South Korea-U.S. forces, you know, take over it while there’s a crisis there. And there’s other war games, you know, basically aimed at testing all the weaponry the United States and South Korea have, and these are seen as very dangerous.

On the other hand, exploding nuclear weapons and testing nuclear weapons is itself dangerous and a provocation, as a lot of countries have stated this morning.

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/2/12/north_korea_nuclear_test_sends_message