South Korea, US kick off largest military drill in 5 years

Pyongyang warns that such drills could be viewed as a declaration of war

SEOUL - South Korea and the United States on Monday kicked off their largest joint military exercise in five years, after the nuclear-armed North warned that such drills could be seen as a "declaration of war".

Washington and Seoul have ramped up defence cooperation in the face of growing threats from the North, which has conducted a series of banned weapons tests in recent months.

The US-South Korea exercise, called Freedom Shield, is scheduled to run for at least 10 days and will focus on the "changing security environment" due to North Korea's redoubled aggression, the allies said.

In a rare move, the Seoul military in March revealed that its special forces and the Americans were staging "Teak Knife" military exercises, which involve simulating precision strikes on key facilities in North Korea, ahead of Freedom Shield.

North Korea views such exercises as rehearsals for an invasion. It has said its nuclear weapons and missile programmes are for self-defence.

The Philippines and the US also launched army-to-army exercises at the same time, coming on the heels of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's decision last month to expand Washington's access to his country's military bases - a move that has infuriated China.