U.S. and South Korea to Conduct Maneuvers
The United States and South Korea will begin huge joint military maneuvers today despite protests from North Korea, which charges that the scheduled 10-week exercise is a preparation for war.
About 200,000 American and South Korean troops will take part in Team Spirit 87, the latest edition of annual exercises first staged on the peninsula in 1976. The exercise is billed as the largest in the non-communist world.
Units from U.S. Pacific and continental commands, including an aircraft carrier battle group, will join the 40,000 U.S. troops stationed here in the exercises with South Korean forces to test and improve joint defensive readiness, a spokesman for the Korean-U.S. Combined Forces Command said.
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