Defense ministry says live-fire exercises to mark 70th anniversary of alliance likely to be largest ever on peninsula
The U.S. and South Korean militaries will hold what will likely be the largest-ever joint live-fire exercises this month to celebrate 70 years of the alliance, Seoul’s defense ministry announced Thursday.
The “joint and combined firepower annihilation training” will run for three weeks from May 25 to June 15 near the border with North Korea and feature unmanned and other high-tech assets in live-fire and field training exercises.
“The training will be based on North Korean provocation scenarios to showcase the overwhelming ROK-U.S. joint and combined forces’ power and military capabilities, which can complete missions in minimum time and with minimal sacrifices,” an unnamed official told the ministry’s Kookbang Ilbo publication.
The annihilation drill will consist of five parts, with both sides deploying high-tech assets to mark the 70th anniversary of U.S.-ROK alliance and the 75th anniversary of the establishment of ROK military, the defense ministry stated.
Eleven iterations of the “annihilation” exercise have been held since 1977. The allies will conduct this year’s drill, the first in six years, at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pochon, Gyeonggi Province, some 20 miles (30 km) from the Demilitarized Zone.
“This will likely be conducted on the largest-scale ever,” Col. Jeon Ha-kyu said at a ministry briefing on Thursday.
Pre-drill events will include drone flights and high-altitude paratrooper drops, according to the ministry publication, and the military will recruit social media “influencers” to promote its activities.
‘Pull the Trigger’
Meanwhile, the South Korea government and military continue to focus on emerging technology to improve national defenses, after North Korea sent unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into ROK airspace last December.
The defense ministry last week issued an advance legislation notice for the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s plans to establish a new drone operations command in the second half of the year.
On Wednesday, Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) Chairman Kim Seung-kyum visited one of the two areas that North Korean drones infiltrated last year along the western frontline and delivered guidelines for the soldiers stationed there.
Kim emphasized the importance of collecting as much information as possible about enemy UAVs and the importance of chasing and eliminating them “to the end.”
The JCS chief predicted that North Korea will conduct military aggression against South Korea in unknown and unexpected formats going forward, stressing readiness to respond “overwhelmingly” to such activities.
Soldiers need to train their reflexes to “instinctively and boldly pull the trigger if the enemy provokes,” Kim said, visiting frontline guard posts.
“We have to imprint in the enemy minds that the only price for provocation is gruesome punishment,” he said.
Source: NK News
