Seoul, 12 August 2024 (TDI): United States and South Korea will begin their annual joint military exercises next week with a focus on improving their combined capabilities to deter and defend against increasing North Korean nuclear threats, the allies said on Monday.
The exercises could trigger a belligerent response from North Korea, which portrays them as invasion rehearsals and have used the allies’ military cooperation as a pretext to advance the development of missile systems and nuclear weapons.
South Korean and US military officials said this year’s Ulchi Freedom Shield drills, scheduled for August 19-29, will include computer-simulated exercises designed to enhance readiness against such threats as GPS jamming and cyber-attacks, missiles, live-fire exercises, and concurrent field maneuvers.
The allies aim to further strengthen their capability and posture to deter and defend against weapons of mass destruction, military officials said in a joint media conference.
Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that nearly 19,000 South Korean troops will participate in the exercises, which he described as an essential element for maintaining a strong defense posture to safeguard the Republic of Korea, using South Korea’s formal name.
Col. Ryan Donald, spokesperson of USForces Korea, did not comment on the number of US troops participating in the drills and said he could not immediately confirm whether the exercises will involve US strategic assets.
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The US in recent months has increased its regional deployment of submarines, long-range bombers, and aircraft carrier strike groups to train with South Korean and Japanese assets in a show of force against the North.
This drill will reflect realistic threats across all domains such as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s missile threats and we will take in lessons learned from recent armed conflicts, Donald said, invoking North Korea’s formal name.
