South Korea and US start biggest military exercise amid tension with North Korea

Asia-Pacific, News, US August 22, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

South Korean and U.S. military kicked off the annual summertime joint military exercise named Ulchi Freedom Shield. The drills would continue from August 22 to September 1, 2022.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield 2022 exercise is being held first time after 2018. The large-scale annual summertime military drills between the United States and South Korea were canceled in 2019 by former U.S. President Donald Trump, as he met with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The 2020 and 2021 exercises were canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Detailed schedule and operations information for the exercises has not been released yet, however, based on the past installments and the current situation of the Korean Peninsula, it can be assessed that the large-scale military exercise would involve thousands of troops and a large number of warships, aircraft, and tanks.

The joint statement released by the South Korean and U.S. military stated that the drills are in response to North Korea’s large-scale missile tests. “With this in mind, and considering the evolving threat, both sides committed to expanding the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training,” they said, adding that Ulchi Freedom Shield would “bolster combined readiness”.

The U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises have always infuriated Pyongyang as it terms such military activities as a rehearsal for invading North Korea. To mark its retaliation against the large-scale military exercise, North Korea fired two cruise missiles into the sea from its western coast on the morning of August 17. The cruise missile launch from North Korea comes only one day after the U.S. and South Korean military began the preliminary leg Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise.

^{A surface-to-surface missile is launched during a joint live-firing exercise between the U.S. and South Korea in an unidentified location, South Korea, May 25, 2022. (Image Credit: ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff/Yonhap via Reuters)}

South Korean Defense Ministry officials informed media reporters that “the U.S. and South Korean military authorities are analyzing detailed specifications of the cruise missiles” such as flight time and distance.

The United States, South Korea, and Japan have been conducting several live-fire drills and military exercises lately in the wake of North Korea’s increasing missile tests. The three countries also recently concluded their joint ballistic missile defense exercises off the coast of Hawaii. This was the first time that the armed forces of three countries came together to carry out such exercises since 2017.

Apart from the Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise, South Korea has also launched a four-day long civil defense drill with the same name. The Ulchi civil defense drills are designed to boost the government’s readiness. This is the first time that South Korea has arranged such drills after the Covid-19 pandemic.