North Korea's Worker-Peasant Red Guards conduct a military drill.<br /> <br />The civil defence force group, numbering around 5.7 million, held the exercise against a background of rising hostilities on the Korean peninsula.<br /> <br />South Korean and U.S. troops took part in the joint computer-simulated drill "Key Resolve" on Friday in Seoul.<br /> <br />The annual joint drills started on Monday to practice combined and joint command-post military operations to defend South Korea.<br /> <br />But North Korea is threatening military action against its southern neighbour and the United States if the drills continue.<br /> <br />About 200,000 Korean troops and 10,000 U.S. forces are expected to be mobilised for a separate exercise, "Foal Eagle'', before the end of April.<br /> <br />A spokesman for South Korea's Defence Ministry said on Friday it was keeping an eye on its unpredictable northern neighbour, and that it would be prepared in case of war.<br /> <br />Last week, Pyongyang scrapped the 1953 armistice deal that ended
