South Korea, US Join Forces for Massive Military Drill Amid North Korea’s Weapon Tests

Resuming field training on Monday, South Korea and the US started their biggest joint military exercises in years as the allies work to increase preparedness in anticipation of probable North Korean weapons tests.

The annual summer drills began after South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May, pledged to "normalize" the joint drills and increase deterrence against the North. This year, they were dubbed as Ulchi Freedom Shield.

For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, South Korea separately started its four-day Ulchi civil defense exercises on Monday, according to Reuters.

According to Yoon, the military and civilian drills are intended to increase the nation's readiness to respond to shifting patterns of warfare and evolving cybersecurity threats against vital infrastructure like chip manufacturers and supply networks.

During a cabinet meeting, Yoon called for extensive drills based on real-world scenarios. "Maintaining peace on the Korean peninsula is built on our airtight security posture," Yoon underscored. The drills, which had previously been toned reduced due to COVID-19 and as Yoon's predecessor sought to resume negotiations with Pyongyang, which has referred to them as a practice for an invasion, were the largest since 2017.

In light of North Korea's decision to resume ballistic missile launches, the restart of the drills signals that South Korea and the US, which has 28,500 troops stationed there, have returned to forceful demonstrations of their combined military power.

While Pyongyang constantly denounces the field exercises as training for an assault and has retaliated with missile launches in the past, Washington and Seoul maintain that they are intended to plan their response to a North Korean attack.

The drills started against a backdrop of increasingly aggressive rhetoric from North Korea and will conclude on September 1.

Pyongyang Blasts Seoul Economic Assistance Offer

Yoon stated that his country would offer economic assistance if Pyongyang took steps toward denuclearization, but North Korea rejected his offer and openly criticized him.

Pyongyang threatened "deadly retaliation" against the South, which it blamed for the spread of its COVID-19, and Kim Yo-jong, an influential sister of Kim Jong-un, last week called Yoon's offer of economic assistance in exchange for denuclearization "absurd" and stated that the North would never "barter" its nuclear deterrent for assistance, as per a report from The Guardian.

Following the start of the exercises' preliminary training by South Korea and the United States, North Korea launched two cruise missiles last week from the west coast town of Inchon.

Seoul Anticipates More North Korea Weapons Tests

Seoul officials reported that North Korea has performed missile tests at an astounding level this year and is prepared to carry out its sixth North Korean weapons test at any time.

According to Seoul's defense ministry, the allies will hold 11 field training exercises this summer, including one involving thousands of soldiers at the brigade level.

The ministry announced that it would enhance missile detection capabilities and seek an early deployment of a new interceptor system to better resist North Korea's expanding missile threats against the capital of the South.

Channel News Asia reported a recent ballistic missile defense practice off the coast of Hawaii saw participation from the United States, South Korea, and Japan. It was the first such exercise since 2017, when ties between Seoul and Tokyo reached their lowest level in years.