South Korea and US will start summer military drills next week to counter North Korean threats

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and the United States will begin their annual joint military exercises next week with a focus on improving their combined capabilities to deter and defend against growing North Korean nuclear threats, the allies said Monday.

The drills 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 nuclear weapons and missile systems.

South Korean and U.S. military officials said this year’s Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, scheduled for Aug. 19-29, will include computer-simulated exercises designed to enhance readiness against such threats as missiles, GPS jamming and cyberattacks, and concurrent field maneuvers and live-fire exercises.

The allies in particular aim to “further strengthen (their) capability and posture to deter and defend against weapons of mass destruction,” military officials said in a joint news conference.

Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said about 19,000 South Korean troops will participate in the drills, which he described as an “essential element for maintaining a strong defense posture to protect the Republic of Korea,” using South Korea’s formal name.

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Ryan Donald, spokesperson of U.S Forces Korea, didn’t comment on the number of U.S. troops participating in the exercises and said he couldn’t immediately confirm whether the drills will involve U.S. strategic assets. The United States in recent months has increased its regional deployment of long-range bombers, submarines and aircraft carrier strike groups to train with South Korean and Japanese assets in a show of force against the North.

“This exercise 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 the North’s formal name.

“ROK and U.S. units will execute combined field training exercises across all domains. Field maneuver and live fire exercises will strengthen the alliance’s interoperability while showcasing our combined capabilities and resolve,” he said.

In addition to its military exercises with the United States, the South Korean military will support the country’s civil defense and evacuation drills on Aug. 19-22, which will include programs based on North Korean nuclear attack scenarios, Lee said.

Animosity on the Korean Peninsula is high, as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to use Russia’s war on Ukraine as a window to accelerate weapons development while issuing verbal threats of nuclear conflict toward Washington and Seoul.

In response, South Korea, the United States and Japan have been expanding their combined military exercises and sharpening their nuclear deterrence strategies built around U.S. strategic assets.

During last year’s Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, North Korea conducted ballistic missile tests that it described as simulating “scorched earth” nuclear strikes on South Korean targets.

The North in recent weeks has also flown thousands of balloons carrying trash toward the South in a bizarre psychological warfare campaign that has further deteriorated relations between the war-divided rivals.

South Korea’s military said Monday that the North launched about 240 balloons over the weekend, but only 10 were known to have landed in the South, all in areas north of the capital, Seoul. Those balloons carried paper waste and plastic bottles, and no dangerous substances were found, the South’s joint chiefs said.

It was the first time North Korea flew balloons toward the South since July 24, when trash carried by at least one of them fell on the South Korean presidential compound, raising worries about the vulnerability of key South Korean facilities. The balloon contained no dangerous material and no one was hurt.

Also on Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol nominated presidential security chief Kim Yong-hyun, one of his closest confidants, as defense minister. Kim will be replacing Shin Won-sik, who was picked to be Yoon’s new national security adviser, according to the presidential office.

As a nominee for a Cabinet job, Kim is subject to a parliamentary hearing, although Yoon can appoint him even if lawmakers object. Yoon, a conservative, has struggled to push his agenda through the opposition-controlled National Assembly. The liberals have often criticized Yoon’s national security policies as hawkish and called for stronger efforts to revive dialogue with the North.