World IN BRIEF : NORTH KOREA : U.S.-Seoul Military Exercises Protested

North Korea said that planned U.S.-South Korea military exercises threaten the outcome of reunification talks and might touch off a war. The statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency and monitored in Tokyo, demanded immediate cancellation of the “Team Spirit ‘91” exercises, set to begin this week. It said that some “reckless provocation” during the exercises might “start a war of aggression on the northern half of Korea,” and that South Korea’s current military alert made the plan even more “grave and dangerous.” Seoul has said the military alert was prompted by fears that the Communist North would attack while world attention is focused on the Gulf War.