MOSCOW, Oct 25 - RIA Novosti. The military exercises "Hoguk" ("Defense of the Fatherland") began on Monday in South Korea with the participation of three branches of the armed forces to work out their strategic interaction, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of the country's armed forces.
The current annual exercises will last until November 5.
"It is expected that these exercises will be held in conditions of preventive measures against coronavirus and African swine fever," the agency quotes a statement from a representative of the OKNSH.
The Hoguk exercises have been held in South Korea annually since 1996. Information on the scale of maneuvers in 2021 is not published. It is only reported that the current exercises will work out interaction in case of alleged provocations and enemy attacks.
At the same time, as the Korean Central Telegraph Agency (KCNA) reported from Pyongyang, these exercises are supposed to work out operations to strike the territory of the DPRK.
"The military fanatics of South Korea continue to play the game of inciting war, destroying peace and security on the Korean peninsula, and bring the situation to the extreme," the North Korean agency claims.