SEOUL: The South Korean and United States militaries were set to begin huge live-fire drills near a border with North Korea on Thursday, despite the North’s warning that it won’t tolerate what it calls such the hostile invasion rehearsal on its doorstep.
Thursday’s drills, the first of the partners’ five rounds of firing exercises until mid-June, mark 70 years since establishing the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. North Korea has typically reacted to the central South Korean-United States exercises with missile and other arms tests.
North Korea has test-launched over a hundred missiles, but none since it fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in mid-April. North Korea argued that its torrid pace of tests was meant to respond to the expanded army drills between South Korea and the United States. Still, observers say the North aims to advance its weapons development and then wrest more significant concessions from its rivals in eventual diplomacy.
The United States-South Korean firing exercises, called “the combined annihilation firepower drills,” would be the biggest of their kind. According to the South Korean Defense Ministry, the drills have been held 11 times since they began in 1977.
Ministry said this year’s drills involve advanced stealth fighters, attack helicopters, tanks, and multiple missile launch systems from the United States and South Korea. It was not immediately known how several military troops would participate in the drills. Still, the last exercises in 2017 — the most current ones before this year — drew about 2,000 armed soldiers and 250 weapons assets from both countries.
Defense Ministry said the drills are meant to enhance the allies’ combined operational performance capabilities. It said the United States and South Korea would seek to establish “the overwhelming deterrence and response capabilities” to cope with North Korean nuclear and missile threats.
