SKorea, US begin drills amid NKorean nuke threat

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and the United States are staging annual military drills that North Korea says it will respond to by scrapping the armistice that ended the Korean War and launching a nuclear attack on the U.S.

After Monday's start of the drills involving 10,000 South Korean and 3,500 American troops, Pyongyang reportedly followed through on an earlier vow to cut off a hotline with the South.

Pyongyang has launched a bombast filled propaganda campaign against the drills and last week's U.N. vote to impose new sanctions over the North's Feb. 12 nuclear test.

Pyongyang has vowed before to scrap the 1953 armistice. But recent rhetoric has been more warlike than usual. Pyongyang isn't believed to be able to build a warhead small enough to mount on a long-range missile.