[ad_1]
SEOUL, May 25 (AP) — South Korean and U.S. forces are scheduled to begin massive live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, even as North Korea has warned it will not tolerate what it calls a hostile intrusion exercise of its own. doorstep.
Thursday’s drill was the first of five rounds of firing drills by the coalition until mid-June, marking 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. North Korea has argued that its fiery pace of testing was in response to expanded military drills between the United States and South Korea, but observers say the goal is to advance its weapons development and then eventually diplomatically wrest greater power from its rivals. concession.
The U.S.-South Korea shooting exercise, dubbed “Joint Annihilating Fires Exercise,” will be 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.
This year’s drills will involve advanced stealth fighter jets, attack helicopters, multiple rocket launchers and other weapons from South Korea and the United States, ministry officials said. It is unclear how many troops will take part in the drills, but the pre-2017 drills drew about 2,000 troops and 250 pieces of weaponry from both countries.
An earlier statement from the Defense Ministry said the exercises were aimed at improving the combined combat capabilities of the allies. It said South Korea and the United States would seek to build “overwhelming deterrence and response capabilities” to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
On Friday, North Korean state media called the exercise “a typical rehearsal of a war against North Korea.” It said North Korea “could not fail to pay more serious attention” to the fact that the drills would be held several kilometers (miles) from its border.
The U.S. and South Korea will make an unspecified “corresponding response” to its series of large-scale, provocative drills, KCNA said.
Earlier this year, South Korean and U.S. forces 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.
At their summit 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 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, later said the Biden-Yoon summit deal revealed the two countries’ “most hostile and aggressive will to act” toward North Korea. She threatened to further strengthen her country’s escalating nuclear doctrine, saying “the pipe dreams of the United States and South Korea will henceforth face a far more powerful entity.”
Concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program intensified after North Korea passed legislation last year authorizing the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons. Many foreign experts say North Korea does not yet have a working nuclear missile. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
share now
[ad_2]
Source link