article_snippet: South Korea has fired two ballistic missiles more than 300 miles into the sea in what has been called an 'armed protest' against military drills in the South.
article_snippet: A spokesman for South Korea threatened 'merciless strikes' against South Korea and South Korea ally the U.S., which helps conduct the military drills every year and insists the military drills are just defensive.
article_snippet: The war between the two Koreas is still active because The war between the two Koreas ended in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty, and left a heavily armed two-and-a-half mile wide zone along the border.
article_snippet: South Korea warned there would be 'merciless strikes' against routine military exercises carried out south of the border .
article_snippet: South Korean soldiers begin the annual military exercises near the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas - which despite the two Koreas - name is one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world .
article_snippet: Spokesman Kim Min-seok called the launches an 'armed protest' against the South Korea-U.S. drills and a challenge to peace on the Korean Peninsula.
article_snippet: A statement carried by North Korea state-run news agency said: 'The situation on the Korean Peninsula is again inching close to the brink of a war.
article_snippet: Officials in the South Korean capital Seoul Pyongyang claim the drills are 'intolerable aggression' and preparation for an invasion - but North Korea says North Korea are simply routine exercises.
article_snippet: The largest element of the two drills that began today is Foal Eagle, an eight-week exercise involving air, ground and naval field training, with around 200,000 Korean and 3,700 US troops.
article_snippet: Around 28,500 American soldiers are deployed in North Korea as deterrence against potential aggression from the North.
article_snippet: During the drills, tension rose amid North Korean rhetoric that included vows of nuclear strikes on Washington and Seoul.
article_snippet: A new research report by U.S. experts published last week estimated that North Korea could be on track to have an arsenal of 100 nuclear weapons by 2020.
highlights_snippet: South Korea said South Korea was 'armed protest' against South Korea annual exercises .
  
highlights_snippet: Drills aided by the U.S. and military chiefs insist Drills aided by the U.S. and military chiefs are just defensive .
  
highlights_snippet: But Drills aided by the U.S. and military chiefs raise tensions and in 2013 the North vowed nuclear retaliation .