Riz Khan - Korean Peninsula crisis

A four-day joint military exercise between the US and South Korea barely a few hundred kilometers from the North Korean coastline is adding to ongoing tensions in the region. Kim Jong-il's government has called the war games "serious provocation" and is threatening to retaliate. Could the latest developments trigger another armed confrontation between the two Koreas and how is the latest crisis affecting ties between their two allies - the US and China?