South Korea and the United States began their biggest joint military exercise in years with the resumption of field training on Monday, officials said, as allies seek to strengthen preparedness on North Korea’s potential weapons tests.
The annual summer exercise, which was renamed Ulchi Freedom Shield this year and was due to end on September 1, came after South Korean President Yoon Suk-yol, who took office in May, sought to “normalize” the joint exercises and vowed to promote resistance against the North. ,
South Korea on Monday separately launched a four-day Ulchi civil defense exercise, designed to boost government preparedness, for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic emerged.
Yoon said the military and civilian exercises are aimed at improving the country’s preparedness to match the changing patterns of warfare, in which cyber threats against key facilities such as chip factories and supply chains are evolving.
“Keeping peace on the Korean peninsula is built on our airtight security posture,” Yoon told a cabinet meeting, calling for intensive exercises based on real-world scenarios.
The exercise was the largest since 2017 after being scaled back because of Covid-19 and as Yun’s predecessor sought to resume talks with Pyongyang, which has called the exercise a rehearsal for the attack.
North Korea fired two cruise missiles off the west coast Last week, after South Korea and the United States began preliminary training for the exercise.
Seoul officials said North Korea has conducted missile tests at unprecedented speeds this year and is ready to conduct its seventh nuclear test any time.
Yoon has said that his government is ready to provide financial aid if Pyongyang takes steps towards denuclearization, but North Korea has rejected his offer, openly criticizing him.
Seoul’s defense ministry has said the allies will conduct 11 field training programs this summer, one at the brigade level – involving thousands of soldiers.
To better counter North Korea’s growing missile threats targeting the South’s capital, the ministry said it would improve missile detection capabilities and stress the early deployment of a new interceptor system.
The United States, South Korea and Japan recently participated in ballistic missile defense exercises off the coast of Hawaii, the first such exercise since 2017, when relations between Seoul and Tokyo hit their lowest level in years .
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