LET THE DRILLS BEGIN: The Pentagon has announced that its annual spring combined military exercises with South Korea, delayed for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, will begin April 1, and be of the “same scale, scope and duration as previous years.” As it does every year, the U.S. stressed that the drills are defensive in nature, designed to ensure the U.S. and its allies are ready to respond to any attack on the south.

“Our combined exercises are defense-oriented and there is no reason for North Korea to view them as a provocation,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, in a statement to reporters last night. “These routine training exercises are not conducted in response to any [North Korean] provocations or the current political situation on the peninsula.”