SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and the US launched a massive joint military exercise every year on Monday to better deal with the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea.
11 Days Ulch Freedom Shield, the second exercise of two large-scale exercises held annually South Koreaafter another set In Marchcomputer-simulated command post operations and field training involve 21,000 soldiers, including 18,000 Koreans.
Drills that allies describe as defensive can trigger a response from North Korea. North Korea has long portrayed allied exercises as rehearsals for invasions, and has often used them as an excuse for military demonstrations and weapons testing aimed at advancement of nuclear programs.
In a statement last week, North Korean Defense Minister Kwan Chol said the drill had a “military conflict” stance with the North, and declared that its forces were ready to counter “any provocation that crosses the boundary line.”
Ulch Freedom Shield is coming at a pivotal moment for South Korea’s new liberal president Lee Jae Myung, Who is preparing? August 25th Summit with President Donald Trump In Washington. Trump raised concerns in Seoul that he might shaking a decades-old alliance by demanding higher payments for the presence of US forces in South Korea and perhaps by reducing it as Washington shifts its focus to China.
Tensions on the South Korean Peninsula remain high as North Korea sidelines Lee’s call to resume diplomacy with its war division rivals. Deepened integrity with Moscow After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“What is needed now is the courage to steadily take steps to alleviate tensions based on a state of solid ironic security preparation,” Lee said at his cabinet meeting on Monday. South Korea also launched four-day civil defense drills on Monday involving thousands of public workers, often scheduled along with the allies’ summer military exercises.
Seoul’s previous conservative government expanded military exercises with the United States, responding to North Korea’s threats in search of stronger US guarantees for nuclear deterrence, and last year abandoned the goal of long-term settlements, rewritten the Southern Constitution and wrought the Southern Constitution.
In his latest message to Pyongyang on Friday, Lee, who took office in June, said he would do so. Trying to restore the 2018 Interal Kingdom military agreement It was designed to reduce border tensions, calling on North Korea to respond to Southern efforts to rebuild trust and revive consultations.
The 2018 military agreement reached during a brief diplomacy between South Korea and created an on-shore and sea buffer zone and an in-flight zone above the border to prevent collisions.
However, South Korea suspended its contract in 2024, citing tensions over North Korea’s launch Balloons littering south, We moved to resume frontline military operations and propaganda campaigns. This step came after North Korea had already declared it would not comply with the agreement.
When asked whether it would affect Lee’s Allied training to restore the agreement, the Southern Ministry of Defense said Monday there were no immediate plans to suspend live-action training near South Korea’s Western maritime border.
Allies postponed half of the 44 field training program originally planned by Ulchi Freedom Shield in September, but US military authorities denied speculation from South Korean media that the scaled back drill was intended to create diplomacy with the North, and was intended to cite heat concerns and flood damages to several training fields.
Back in his first term, Trump has regularly called for more to pay the 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea in the soil. Public comments from Trump administration officials, including Defense Secretary Elbridge Colby, have proposed pushes for restructuring the alliance that some experts say could potentially affect the size and role of South Korea’s US military.
Under this approach, South Korea plays a major role in combating the North Korean threat, with the US military focusing on China and possibly reducing its benefits to Seoul, but experts say it could face increased costs and risks.
In a recent meeting with reporters, US South Korean commander General Xavier Branson stressed the need to “modernize” the alliance to deal with North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, its aggravation with Russia and the evolving security environment, including what he called China’s threat to the free and open Indo-Pacific.
