The US-led UN Command Military Armistice Commission said it notified the North Korean army the exercises were "non-provocative" in nature. High-level defections pointed to cracks in the Kim regime, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Monday. Thae's defection followed the flight to Seoul this year of 12 waitresses from a North Korean restaurant in China. South Korea denies they were kidnapped. North and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Source: dna August 22, 2016 09:11 UTC