North Korea tensions: 'Dangerous' timing as US and South Korea prepare for military exercise

Fears are rising that tensions could be reignited between the US and North Korea over war games in South Korea this week, after Pyongyang warned on Sunday that the military exercise was “adding fuel to the fire.”
The annual ten day “Ulchi Freedom Guardian” joint military exercise between the US and South Korea is routine. But it begins on Monday, just days after dictator Kim Jong-un shelved plans to land four ballistic missiles in the waters around the American Pacific territory of Guam.
In this file photo from 2016, US Army soldiers move during the annual US South Korea Ulchi-Freedom Guardian military exercises in Paju, South Korea CREDIT: AP PHOTO/AHN YOUNG-JOON
North Korea’s back-track on Guam, after a tense war of words with Washington about its nuclear and missile tests, was conditional. “We are watching every move of the US,” said Pyongyang in a statement.
On Sunday it warned through state newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, that the joint exercise “is the most explicit expression of hostility against us, and no one can guarantee that the exercise won’t evolve