ROK civic groups protest joint drills with US, Japan

Civic groups in the Republic of Korea (ROK) protested outside the U.S. Embassy in central Seoul on Monday against joint military drills involving the ROK, the United States and Japan.

The five-day trilateral exercise, known as Freedom Edge, began Monday in international waters around the ROK and is scheduled to run through Friday.

ROK's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the exercise is defensive in nature and aimed at countering nuclear and missile threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

At the protest, Choi Eun-a, secretary-general of Korean Peace Solidarity for Sovereignty and Reunification, said the groups were concerned about the exercise's wider regional implications.

"We're concerned that this exercise is part of efforts to contain China. We oppose it because, rather than contributing to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula, we believe it will instead escalate tensions and conflict with countries in the region," said Choi.

The drills come weeks after the U.S. and the ROK cut short their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, reducing it to five days from 11 and scaling back some field training, following U.S. President Donald Trump's order to substantially reduce U.S. participation.

China's foreign exchange reserves stood at 3.4383 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of August, up 19.5 billion dollars, or 0.57 percent, from July, according to official data released on Monday.

In August, affected by global macroeconomic data and monetary policy expectations in major economies, the U.S. dollar index declined, while global major financial asset prices showed differentiated performance, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange noted.

The combined effects of exchange rate conversion and asset price changes contributed to the increase in China's foreign exchange reserves during the month, the administration said.

China's economy has been generally stable with steady progress, demonstrating strong resilience and vitality, which provides support for keeping the scale of foreign exchange reserves basically stable, according to the administration.