South Korea and US gearing up for military exercises

The annual drills will begin on Monday and run until March 20.

South Korean and US troops will begin their large annual joint military drills next week to enhance their readiness against North Korean threats, the South Korean military said on Thursday.

The announcement came days after North Korea threatened high-profile provocations against what it called escalating US-led aggression.

The South Korean and US forces will take part in the Freedom Shield exercise, a computer-simulated command post training, and related field exercises from Monday to March 20, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff in a statement.

The statement said the Freedom Shield exercise will involve responses to evolving challenges like North Korea’s growing military partnership with Russia.

South Korea Accidental Bombing — A South Korea army’s Apache Guardian helicopter fires rockets during the joint military drill between South Korea and the United States at Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, South Korea (Yonhap via AP)

It has not responded to the announcement, but earlier this week, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accused the US of intensifying confrontational actions and threatened to ramp up measures “threatening the security of the enemy at the strategic level”.

She cited the recent temporary deployments of US strategic assets like an aircraft carrier and long-range bombers in South Korea and other US-involved military activities.

Observers say North Korea could test-fire powerful nuclear-capable missiles designed to strike the US mainland and American military bases in the region.

Since his January 20 inauguration, president Donald Trump has said he would reach out to Kim Jong Un again to revive diplomacy. North Korea has not directly responded to Mr Trump, arguing US hostilities against it has deepened since his inauguration.

Kim Jong Un and Mr Trump met three times in 2018-19 to discuss how much economic and political benefits North Korea would receive in return for its nuclear disarmament. Their diplomacy eventually fell apart after Mr Trump rejected Mr Kim’s offer to dismantle his main nuclear complex, a limited denuclearisation step, in exchange of extensive sanctions relief.