SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - U.S. and South Korean forces launched annual joint military exercises Monday, mostly computer-simulated drills that North Korea has labeled a rehearsal for invasion and demanded be canceled. The exercise took place amid renewed concerns about North Korea after a news report last week said the communist country might be preparing to conduct its first known nuclear test.Some 17,000 troops, including 10,000 Americans, are participating in the exercises named "Ulchi Focus Lens," which have been conducted every year since 1975, said U.S. military spokesman David Oten. "It's defensive, it's not a provocation," Oten said.
The exercises, which run through Sept. 1, join together command posts from across the Pacific region and in the United States. "The exercise is designed to train, evaluate and improve combined and joint procedures and plans that are critical to the defense of the peninsula," Oten said.
But the North reacted angrily Monday by