Seoul, August 16 (Saba) - South Korean and U.S. forces started their annual war games in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula on Monday, military officials here said, amid North Korea's threats that it will deal a "merciless counterblow" against the drills, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA).

As an annual event since 1975, South Korea and the U.S. are holding the 11-day computerized command-and-control military exercises from Monday, with 56,000 South Korean soldiers and 30,000 U.S. troops, including some 3,000 soldiers based in the U.S., taking part, South Korea''s (Yonhap) news agency reported.

The allies said the "Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG)" drills are defensive and involve few troop movements, but the North has denounced it as a rehearsal for a northward U.S. invasion aimed at toppling its communist regime.

In a message posted on the Web site of the U.S. Forces Korea, Gen. Walter Sharp, the commander of some 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in the South, said this year's UFG "affords the combined team an opportunity to continue to develop organizational structures and collaborate on command and control relationships between our militaries."

On Sunday, the North's military lashed out at South Korea and the U.S. for starting the war games. "Our military and people will wield the iron hammer of a merciless counterblow," the General Staff of the Korean People''s Army said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The latest South Korea-U.S. military drills come amid high tensions over the March sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors. An international investigation concluded in May that the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, but the North has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Saba