09-151.pdf

also been raised at two previous meetings.
After the North had raised military exercises at a subsequent
meeting, at the 432nd meeting requested by the KPA/CPV held on
January 3, 1986, the North argued that to advance North-South talks
and to create an atmosphere of reconciliation in the Korean peninsula,
military exercises must end and repeated its proposals from the
previous meeting it had called. The South pointed out that without the
carrying out of exercises, war deterrence is unrealistic. At the 434th
meeting called by the KPA/CPV held on March 7, the North raised the
“Team Spirit” exercise, which at the time involved more than 200,000
men. The North, which had urged a halt to the exercise at the previous
meeting it had proposed held on January 28, claimed that the exercise
was a preparation for war and violated Paragraph 13(c) and (d). The
exercise was regarded as a preparation for a nuclear attack. The South
referred to its previous standpoint that military exercises are unrelated
to the Armistice Agreement and pointed out that North Korea’s
military expenditure reached 25 percent of GNP, reinforcing the
already huge military forces (cf. p. 123). The Team Spirit exercise was
criticized once more in 1986. 263
At the 437th meeting called by the KPA/CPV held on April 3,
1987, the North criticized the South for conducting the joint exercise
“TS-87” involving 200,000 men in preparation for a nuclear attack.
The North again claimed that the exercise violated Paragraph 13(c)
and (d). The UNC/MAC stated that since military exercises are
unrelated to the Armistice Agreement they are inappropriate for the
263_ Hapch’am chôngbo ponbu, ibid., 1999, pp. 386, 387, 391, 392, 395, 398, 399;
Kukpang chôngbo ponbu, ibid., 1993, pp. 215, 216, 217, 218-19, 220, 221, 222.
Continued Tension but Renewed Dialogue during the 1980s
335