The drills, known as the Ulchi Freedom Shield, are seen as a sign of the allies’ determination to restore large-scale training after canceling some regular exercises and scaling back others to facilitate nuclear talks and because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Details of the operation have not been released, but previous exercises have involved tens of thousands of troops and a large number of warships and aircraft tanks. They are said to include simulated joint strikes, front-line reinforcements of weapons and fuel, and removals of weapons of mass destruction. The two militaries said in a joint statement that the exercises were a response to an “increased volume and scale [North Korean] missile tests’ over the past year. “With this in mind and considering the evolving threat … both leaders pledged to expand the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training, they said, adding that the Ulchi Freedom Shield would ‘enhance combined readiness.’ The 2019 drills were canceled after Donald Trump’s first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore last year. Trump’s surprise concession was seen as an attempt to persuade Kim to abandon his nuclear weapons program amid a flurry of diplomacy led by the then-president and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in. Four years later, Washington and Seoul have little to show for their engagement efforts. The North has resumed missile tests – including the first launch of a full-range intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 – and speculation is growing that it is preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear test. The US has said it would consider deploying strategic means – which could theoretically include tactical nuclear weapons – if the North tests a nuclear device. South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, took office in May promising a tougher line against North Korean provocations that would include “normalizing” military exercises and strengthening his country’s defenses against the North. The resumption of drills suggests that South Korea and the US, which have 28,500 troops in the country, have returned to strong displays of their combined military power after North Korea resumed ballistic missile tests. “The significance of this joint exercise is to rebuild the South Korea-US alliance and stabilize the combined defense posture by normalizing … combined exercises and field training,” the South Korean defense ministry said. While the allies insist the field exercises are designed to plan their response to a North Korean attack, Pyongyang routinely condemns them as a rehearsal for an invasion and has responded in the past with missile launches. The drills, which will end on September 1, began against a backdrop of increasingly hostile rhetoric from the North. He recently warned of “deadly retaliation” against the South, which he blamed for the Covid-19 outbreak, while Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of Kim Jong-un, last week rejected Yoon’s offer of financial aid to exchange for denuclearization as “absurd,” warning that the North would never “trade” its nuclear deterrent for aid. Kim Jong Un, whose focus until recently appeared to be on containing the coronavirus outbreak, said his country is “ready to mobilize” its nuclear capabilities in any war with the US and North Korea, although the regime has always insisted its nuclear weapons are a deterrent against the “hostile” US. In a televised interview last month, Choe Jin, deputy director of a think tank run by North Korea’s foreign ministry, said the US and South Korea would face “unprecedented” security challenges if they did not abandon their “hostile military posture » against the North, including joint exercises. The North is conducting missile tests at a record pace, with more than 30 ballistic missile launches this year, as it continues to press Washington to accept its status as a legitimate nuclear power – and one that some experts now believe has the potential to deliver a nuclear strike against of the US mainland.
