The United States and the Republic of Korea began their annual military exercises, codenamed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, on the Korea Peninsula earlier this month. Simultaneously, the US has resorted to war rhetoric, fueling concerns over the already volatile situation on the peninsula.

While the Key Resolve is a computer-simulated exercise and will last two weeks, Foal Eagle will continue until April with thousands of US and ROK troops taking part in it, and the scale of the drills is unprecedented.

In a related development, during his first visit to Seoul last week, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Donald Trump administration will take "a different approach" to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear issue, stressing that "all options are on table", including military action, though he added that that was not the desired option.