Seoul, South Korea –
The United States and South Korea will begin their biggest combined military training in years next week in the face of an increasingly aggressive North Korea, which has been ramping up weapons tests and threats of nuclear conflict against Seoul and Washington, he said on Tuesday. the South Korean army. .
The allies’ summer drills, called the Ulchi Freedom Shield, will take place from August 22 to September 1 in South Korea and will include field exercises involving planes, warships, tanks and potentially tens of thousands of troops.
The drills underscore Washington and Seoul’s commitment to restoring full-scale training after they canceled some of their regular drills and downsized others to computer simulations in recent years to create room for diplomacy with North Korea and due to concerns about COVID-19.
The US Department of Defense also said that the US, South Korean and Japanese navies participated in ballistic missile search and track and missile warning exercises off the coast of Hawaii from 8 to 14 June. August, which he said were aimed at promoting tripartite cooperation. in the face of challenges from North Korea.
While the United States and South Korea describe their exercises as defensive, Ulchi Freedom Shield will almost certainly provoke an angry reaction from North Korea, which describes all allied training as invasion drills and has used them to justify its development of nuclear weapons. and missiles.
China, North Korea’s main ally, has raised concerns about expanding US military exercises with its Asian allies, saying they could worsen tensions with the North. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin did not offer a specific answer when asked if Beijing believes the trilateral drills in Hawaii were somehow targeting China.
“North Korea has repeatedly expressed concern” over the joint drills, Wang told a briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.
“It is worth paying attention to the negative impact of the military exercises on the situation on the Korean Peninsula. All parties should exercise caution and stop any actions that may increase tension and confrontation and damage mutual trust,” he said.
Before being shelved or downsized, the US and South Korea held major joint exercises every spring and summer in South Korea. The spring ones were highlighted by live-fire drills that involved a wide range of land, air, and sea assets and typically involved around 10,000 American and 200,000 Korean troops.
Tens of thousands of allied troops participated in the summer drills, which consisted mainly of computer simulations to hone joint decision-making and planning, though this time the South Korean military has emphasized reviving large-scale field training. scale.
Officials from the Seoul Ministry of Defense and its Joint Chiefs of Staff did not comment on the number of US and South Korean troops that will participate in the Ulchi Freedom Shield.
The drills, which will begin alongside a four-day South Korean civil defense training program led by government employees, will include exercises simulating joint attacks, front-line weapons and fuel reinforcements, and removal of weapons of mass destruction.
The allies will also train for drone strikes and other new developments in warfare that were on display during Russia’s war against Ukraine and will practice joint military and civilian responses to attacks on seaports, airports, and major industrial facilities such as manufacturing factories. semiconductors.
“The biggest significance of (Ulchi Freedom Shield) is that it normalizes the combined South Korea-US exercises and field training, (contributing) to rebuilding the South Korea-US alliance and the combined defense posture,” Moon Hong-sik, a Defense Ministry spokesman said during a briefing.
Some experts say North Korea may use the exercises as an excuse to ratchet up tensions.
North Korea has already warned of “deadly” retaliation against South Korea for its own COVID-19 outbreak, which it dubiously claims was caused by anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets and other objects brought across the border with balloons launched by activists. from the south. There are concerns that the North Korean threat, issued last week by leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, heralds a provocation that could include a nuclear or missile test or even border skirmishes.
In an interview with Associated Press Television last month, Choe Jin, deputy director of a think tank run by North Korea’s foreign ministry, said the United States and South Korea would face “unprecedented” security challenges if they didn’t they abandon their hostile military pressure. campaign against North Korea, including joint military exercises.
Kim Jun-rak, spokesman for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the South Korean and US militaries keep a close eye on North Korean military activities and installations.
Animosity has risen on the Korean peninsula since US-North Korea nuclear talks derailed in early 2019 over differences over relaxing crippling US-led sanctions against North Korea in exchange for measures. of disarmament
Since then, Kim Jong Un has declared that North Korea will strengthen its nuclear deterrence in the face of “gangster-like” US pressure and stopped all cooperation with South Korea. Taking advantage of a split in the UN Security Council over Russia’s war against Ukraine, North Korea has accelerated its weapons tests to a record pace this year, conducting more than 30 ballistic launches. They included the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017 and tests of tactical systems designed to be armed with small battlefield nuclear weapons.
Kim has punctuated the testing binge with repeated warnings that North Korea will proactively use its nuclear weapons in conflicts with South Korea and the United States, which experts say indicates an escalation in its nuclear doctrine that could cause further concern. among your neighbors.
South Korea and US officials say North Korea has been preparing for its first nuclear test since September 2017, when it claimed to have developed a thermonuclear warhead to fit on its intercontinental ballistic missiles.