South Korea and the US are to begin their annual joint military exercises next week with a focus on improving their combined capabilities to deter and defend against growing North Korean nuclear threats, the allies said yesterday.
The drills could trigger a belligerent response from North Korea, which portrays them as invasion rehearsals, and has used the allies’ military cooperation as a pretext to advance the development of nuclear weapons and missile systems.
South Korean and US military officials said that this year’s Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which is scheduled from Monday next week to Aug. 29, would include computer-simulated exercises designed to enhance readiness against such threats as missiles, GPS jamming and cyberattacks, as well as concurrent field maneuvers and live-fire exercises.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The allies in particular aim to “further strengthen [their] capability and posture to deter and defend against weapons of mass destruction,” military officials said at a joint news conference.
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Sung-joon said that about 19,000 South Korean troops would participate in the drills, which he described as an “essential element for maintaining a strong defense posture to protect the Republic of Korea [ROK],” using South Korea’s formal name.
US Forces Korea spokesman Ryan Donald did not comment on the number of US troops participating in the exercises and said he could not immediately confirm whether the drills would involve US strategic assets.
The US has increased its regional deployment of long-range bombers, submarines and aircraft carrier strike groups to train with South Korean and Japanese assets in a show of force against North Korea.
“This exercise will reflect realistic threats across all domains such as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s missile threats and we will take in lessons learned from recent armed conflicts,” Donald said using North Korea’s formal name.
“ROK and US units will execute combined field training exercises across all domains. Field maneuver and live-fire exercises will strengthen the alliance’s interoperability, while showcasing our combined capabilities and resolve,” he said.
In addition to its military exercises with the US, the South Korean military would support the nation’s civil defense and evacuation drills on Monday to Thursday next week, which would include programs based on North Korean nuclear attack scenarios, Lee said.
Animosity on the Korean Peninsula is high, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un continues to use Russia’s war against Ukraine as a window to accelerate weapons development while issuing verbal threats of nuclear conflict toward Washington and Seoul.
In response, South Korea, the US and Japan have been expanding their combined military exercises and sharpening their nuclear deterrence strategies built around US strategic assets.
During last year’s Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, North Korea conducted ballistic missile tests that it described as simulating “scorched earth” nuclear strikes on South Korean targets.
North Korea has also flown thousands of balloons carrying trash toward South Korea in a bizarre psychological warfare campaign that has further deteriorated relations between the war-divided rivals.
South Korea’s military yesterday said that North Korea launched about 240 balloons over the weekend, but only 10 were known to have landed in South Korea, all in areas north of the capital, Seoul. Those balloons carried paper waste and plastic bottles, and no dangerous substances were found, it said.
It was the first time North Korea flew balloons toward South Korea since July 24, when trash carried by at least one of them fell on the presidential compound in Seoul, raising worries about the vulnerability of key South Korean facilities. The balloon contained no dangerous material and no one was hurt.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS