U.S. forces in South Korea have resumed an annual military exercise that was halted Wednesday amid a spike in tensions with North Korea and threats of war from Pyongyang.
"That exercise has resumed as planned," Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Shear told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday.
"We suspended part of the exercises temporarily in order to allow our side to coordinate with the [South Korean government] side on the subject of the exchange of artillery fire across the DMZ," Shear said, referring to the demilitarized zone along the border between North and South Korea.
U.S. troops involved in the exercise were placed on "enhanced" status and will remain there for the remainder of the exercise, Shear said.
On Thursday, South Korea accused its northern rival of shelling a border town and reportedly retaliated with dozens of artillery rounds targeting areas north of the border.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday declared his frontline troops to be in a "quasi-state of war" and ordered them to prepare for battle against South Korea in response to the exchange of artillery fire.
A North Korean military official said a meeting of senior party and defense officials led by Kim met Thursday night and "reviewed and approved the final attack operation," according to a report in the New York Times.
The exercise, Ulchi-Freedom Guardian, or UFG, is an annual combined exercise between South Korea and the U.S. that simulates a response to an attack from North Korea. It began Monday and was slated to end next Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Andrew Tilghman is the executive editor for Military Times. He is a former Military Times Pentagon reporter and served as a Middle East correspondent for the Stars and Stripes. Before covering the military, he worked as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle in Texas, the Albany Times Union in New York and The Associated Press in Milwaukee.
