SEOUL, South Korea -- The U.S. military said Monday that it would practice evacuating noncombatant Americans out of South Korea in the event of war and other emergencies, as the two allies began a joint naval exercise amid heightened tensions with North Korea.
It has conducted similar evacuation exercises for decades. But with fears rising in the South that the United States might be preparing for military action against the North, the U.S. military issued a rare news release Monday stressing that the noncombatant evacuation exercise was a "routinely scheduled" drill.
The drill, known as Courageous Channel, is scheduled next week from Monday through Friday and is aimed at preparing U.S. "service members and their families to respond to a wide range of crisis management events such as noncombatant evacuation and natural or man-made disasters," the U.S. military said in a statement.
The South Korean government of President Moon Jae-in has repeatedly warned that it opposes a military solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis because it could quickly escalate into a full-blown war in which Koreans would suffer the most.
U.S. officials said they were hoping for a diplomatic end to the crisis but would not rule out military action.
And in recent months, as North Korea has accelerated its nuclear and missile programs, President Donald Trump has issued a series of comments that have stoked fears among South Koreans of possible war on the Korean Peninsula.
He has threatened to "totally destroy" or rain down "fire and fury" on the North, and has also said that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with the country.
North Korea has matched Trump's tough talk by calling the U.S. leader a "mentally deranged dotard" and threatening to launch missiles around Guam, a U.S. territory in the Western Pacific, and shoot down long-range bombers taking off from the island for exercises near Korea.
The U.S. military did not disclose how many people would participate in the evacuation drill next week. But it said the scale and focus would not vary from past versions.
"Nonparticipants across the peninsula can expect little to no disruption of daily activities on and around military installations," it said.
Participants in the exercise receive briefings on evacuation procedures and "limited rehearsals," it said.
Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said, "Although not directly tied to current geopolitical events, our forces must be ready in all areas."
Also Monday, the United States and South Korea started a 10-day joint naval exercise in waters east and west of the Korean Peninsula.
The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is joining the annual drill, as are U.S. and South Korean warplanes.
The nuclear-powered submarine USS Michigan arrived at the South Korean port of Busan on Friday to join the naval exercise.
North Korea considers joint military drills by the United States and South Korea rehearsals for invasion.
On Friday, its officials renewed their threats to launch missiles into the waters around Guam, home to major U.S. military bases from which the U.S. would send major reinforcements should war break out on the Korean Peninsula.
Tillerson said Sunday that his diplomatic efforts would continue even though Trump and Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, have been exchanging threats and personal insults.
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin of Russia approved a package of sanctions against North Korea, fulfilling provisions of a United Nations resolution passed in November in response to the North's nuclear program.
According to the document, published Monday, Russia banned imports of zinc, silver, copper and nickel from North Korea, as well as exports of helicopters and vessels.
It also suspended scientific and technical cooperation with the country.
The document also bans exports of luxury products to North Korea, such as carpets worth more than $500 and china worth more than $100.
It also included a list of people and companies that were barred from having financial transactions with Russian entities.
Russia and China have backed U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs, though Moscow emphasized that the sanctions mustn't hurt ordinary people.
Moscow and Beijing also proposed to negotiate a freeze in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs along with a freeze on military maneuvers by U.S. and South Korea.
The European Union also slapped new sanctions on North Korea on Monday.
The sanctions agreed by EU foreign ministers include a total ban on EU investment in North Korea, and a ban on the sale of refined petroleum products and crude oil.
The EU slashed from $17,700 to $5,900 the amount of money people can send to North Korea, as it believes these "personal remittances" are used to back Pyongyang's arms programs.
The ministers also decided not to renew work permits for North Koreans working in their territories, apart from refugees and others in need of international protection.
Information for this article was contributed by Choe Sang-hun of The New York Times; and by staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 10/17/2017