South Korea and US preparing for summer military drills

Photo provided by the South Korean DefenCe Ministry showing Marine F-35B and South Korean Air Force KF-16 and F-5 fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula (South Korea Defence Ministry/AP)

South Korea and the United States will begin their annual joint military exercises next week with a focus on improving combined capabilities to deter and defend against growing North Korean nuclear threats, the allies said.

The drills could trigger a belligerent response from North Korea, which portrays them as invasion rehearsals and has used the allies’ military co-operation as a pretext to advance the development of nuclear weapons and missile systems.