US-South Korean Militaries Rehearse Pre-Emptive Strikes on North Korea

• US-South Korean Militaries Rehearse Pre-Emptive Strikes on North Korea
  by Peter Symonds, http://www.wsws.org/ , 8 March 2016  
  Massive joint US-South Korean military exercises began yesterday under conditions of high tension on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January and rocket launch last month. Under pressure from Washington, the UN Security Council last week imposed the most far-reaching sanctions to date on Pyongyang that will limit its mineral exports and compound the economic crisis wracking the unstable regime.
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  The annual war games—Key Resolve and Foal Eagle—have always been extremely provocative, mobilising the substantial resources of the South Korean military and US forces based in the country in a dress rehearsal for war with North Korea. The drills underway will be the largest-ever, involving 300,000 South Korean troops and 17,000 US personnel, backed by sophisticated armour and artillery, as well as air and sea power.
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  More significantly, however, this year’s exercises are based on a new joint operational plan—OPLAN 5015—which shifts the focus of a war against North Korea from a nominally defensive stance to an offensive one. According to details leaked in the media, the plan includes pre-emptive strikes on North Korea’s nuclear and missile sites, and “decapitation” raids by special forces units to assassinate North Korean figures, including leader Kim Jong Un, as the prelude to the seizure of the entire Korean Peninsula.
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  The South Korean newsagency Yonhap Post reported that the joint forces will also practice a new “4D” operational plan to detect, disrupt, destroy and defend against North Korea’s nuclear and missile arsenal.
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  OPLAN 5015, signed last November, is accompanied by Concept Plan (CONPLAN) 5029 that is focussed on sudden crises, such as a political collapse of the Pyongyang regime or an internal revolt in North Korea. The US and South Korean military have already formed a joint division specifically tasked with destroying North Korean weapons of mass destruction. In the event of war, the US, which maintains 28,500 troops in South Korea and is currently upgrading its bases, would assume full operational command of South Korea’s military forces.
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  In line with the aggressive measures outlined in OPLAN 5015, the Pentagon has sent nuclear-capable assets to take part in this year’s war games, including a nuclear attack submarine and reportedly a B-2 strategic bomber. The aircraft carrier John C. Stennis, fresh from a provocative intervention last week in the South China Sea directed against China, is also due to participate, along with its strike group of accompanying warships.
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  The US Forces Korea command relayed a formal note to Pyongyang about the dates of the annual exercises, absurdly insisting on “the non-provocative nature of this training.”
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