2023-05-25 10:20:56
SEOUL. The South Korean and US militaries were preparing major live-fire exercises near the border with North Korea on Thursday, despite warnings from Pyongyang that it would not tolerate what it described as a hostile rehearsal of an invasion at its gates.
Thursday’s exercises, the first of a round of five firing exercises by the two allies scheduled to run through mid-June, came on the 70th anniversary of the Seoul-Washington military alliance. On other occasions, North Korea has reacted to such large exercises with tests of missiles and other weapons.
North Korean releases
Since early 2022, North Korea has test-fired more than 100 missiles, but none since launching a solid-fueled ICBM in mid-April.
Pyongyang claims its rapid succession of tests is in response to increased US and South Korean military exercises, though experts believe North Korea is trying to advance its weapons development and then win concessions from rivals in a subsequent diplomatic process.
The planned exercises by South Korea and the United States, called “combined annihilation firepower maneuvers,” would be the largest of their kind so far.
The exercises have been held 11 times since they began in 1977, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.
Ministry officials said this year’s drills would include US and South Korean stealth fighters, helicopter gunships, tanks and multiple rocket launchers.
It was not initially clear how many soldiers would participate, although previous exercises in 2017 – the most recent until this year – mobilized some 2,000 soldiers and 250 weapons assets from the two countries.
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