South Korean and U.S. militaries conducted large-scale live-fire drills near the North Korean border on Thursday
Published Date – Thursday, 5/25/23 at 11:50pm
South Korean military drones fly in formation during the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise at the Seungjin Fire Training Ground in Pocheon, May 25, 2023. (AFP photo)
Seoul: South Korean and U.S. forces conducted massive live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, even as North Korea warned it would not tolerate so-called invasion exercises on its doorstep.
The drills, the first of five rounds of live-fire drills through mid-June, marked the 70th anniversary of a military alliance between Seoul and Washington. North Korea typically responds to such major South Korea-U.S. exercises with missile and other weapons tests.
North Korea has tested more than 100 missiles since early 2022, but none since mid-April, when it launched a solid-fuel ICBM. It said the tests were in response to expanded military exercises between the United States and South Korea, but observers said North Korea aimed to advance its weapons development before wrestling bigger concessions from its rivals in an eventual diplomacy.
The U.S.-South Korea shooting exercise, dubbed “Joint Annihilating Fires Exercise,” is the largest of its kind. The exercises have been held 11 times since they began in 1977, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Defense.
According to South Korea’s Ministry of Defense, the exercise involved 2,500 troops from South Korea and the United States and 610 weapons systems such as fighter jets, attack helicopters, drones, tanks and artillery. The most recent exercise in 2017 drew some 2,000 troops and 250 pieces of weaponry from both countries.
The drill simulated shelling and airstrikes on North Korean frontline military installations in response to the attack. Those forces later conducted precision-guided strikes on simulated targets in the rear to “completely neutralize” the North Korean military threat, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense.
It said South Korea would seek “to achieve peace through overwhelming force” in response to the North Korean threat.
North Korea did not immediately respond to the drill’s start. On Friday, its state media called the exercise “a typical rehearsal for a war against North Korea” and said it “could not fail to pay more serious attention” to the fact that it was several kilometers from its border.
The U.S. and South Korea will face an unspecified “corresponding response” to the drills, KCNA said.
Earlier this year, South Korean and U.S. troops conducted their largest field exercise in five years. The United States also sent the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and nuclear-capable bombers to conduct joint exercises with South Korea.
Moon Seong Mook, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Strategic Studies in Seoul, said North Korea could use the South Korea-U.S. drills as an excuse to resume testing activities. He said domestic issues, such as North Korea’s push to increase agricultural production during the rice-growing season, could still influence its decision on the weapons test.
Moon Jae-in said: “For the first time in six years, South Korea and the United States held a joint fire drill in the most intense way, and North Korea can’t help but feel a little burdened.”
At a meeting last month, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Hee-yeol announced measures to strengthen deterrence capabilities, such as regular visits by U.S. nuclear submarines to South Korea, enhanced joint training exercises and the establishment of a new nuclear consultative mechanism group. Biden also bluntly warned that any nuclear attack by North Korea on the United States or its allies would “lead to the end of any regime” taking such an action.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said the Biden-Yoon deal revealed the two countries’ “most hostile and aggressive will to act” against North Korea.
She threatened to further strengthen her country’s nuclear doctrine, saying, “The pipe dreams of the United States and South Korea will face stronger entities in the future.” Concern mounts. Many foreign experts say North Korea does not yet have operational nuclear-armed missiles.
