 South Korea-US military drills begin 
 
 The military exercises involve air, ground and naval drills 
 
 Joint military drills between South Korea and the US have begun, amid rare family reunions between North and South Korean relatives separated for decades. The rhetoric this year has so far been relatively mild, but the drills are scheduled to last until April, and many here see them as the toughest test yet of whether ties between the two Koreas are warming, the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul reports. The annual "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle" drills – routinely condemned by North Korea as rehearsals for invasion – will last until 18 April and involve a combined total of 12,700 US troops and many more from South Korea. Key Resolve lasts just over a week and is a largely computer-simulated exercise, while the eight-week Foal Eagle drill involves air, ground and naval field training. Last year's drills fuelled a protracted surge in military tensions, with Pyongyang threatening a pre-emptive nuclear strike, and nuclear-capable US stealth bombers making dummy runs over the Korean peninsula. However, the South Korean defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok insisted on Monday that there would be "no readjustment" in the scale of the manoeuvres. Also on Monday, around 360 South Koreans met their North Korean relatives for the first time since the 1950-1953 Korean War, at a family reunion event in North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort. South Korea suspended the tours after a female tourist was shot dead by North Korean security guards in 2008. In a further goodwill gesture, South Korea on Monday offered to send vaccine and medical equipment to help contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the North.
– North Korea formerly threatened to cancel the long-awaited family reunions between the two Koreas if South Korea went ahead with its annual joint military drills with the US. But as it stands, both events are happening simultaneously. As the six-day reunion continued today, the military drills began, the BBC reports; they will continue until April 18, and involve roughly 12,500 US troops. As always, Washington and Seoul insist they are simply defensive, while Pyongyang calls them "exercises of war." Even so, the rhetoric has been pretty low-key this year compared to last, when North Korea repeatedly threatened to attack South Korean and US targets over the drills. The Guardian reports that US officials have suggested things will be a little more low-key on their end as well: no aircraft carriers or strategic bombers are to factor into the war games. Some believe North Korea's reaction to the drills will shed light on whether tensions between the two Koreas are truly thawing, as the family reunions and other recent developments suggest they may be. "As of now, there are no unusual movements from North Korea," said a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson today. "We will only take action against North Korea if it makes provocations or denunciations." Experts say that, for Pyongyang, keeping calm is all about money. Specifically, the North would like the South to restart tours to the North's Mount Kumgang resort that, in the past, provided the North with an important source of income; the South put an end to the tours in 2008 after a female tourist was killed by North Korean security.