SEOUL, South Korea (Washington Insider Magazine) – If South Korea and the US continue its aggressive military threat operation against the North, involving joint military exercises, North Korea has warned that they would face “unprecedented” security risks.
Although the allies have repeatedly stated they have no intention of striking the North, North Korea sees any routine military exercise between the United States and South Korea as invasion training. In response to the North’s bold string of missile launches this year, Seoul and Washington are getting ready to increase their summertime training, according to ABC NEWS.
The combined military exercises between Seoul and Washington this year are pushing the Korean Peninsula to the verge of war, according to Choe Jin, deputy director general of the Institute of Disarmament and Peace, a think tank operated by the Foreign Ministry. He said that American and South Korean authorities had planned to bring up the deployment of American nuclear strategic capabilities at a forthcoming joint exercise.
On the Korean Peninsula, the regular military exercises between the United States and South Korea are a key source of hostility, to which North Korea frequently responds with missile testing or warlike rhetoric.
Following their May summit, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said that they will look into extending cooperative military drills to counter North Korean nuclear threats. Additionally, Biden reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to South Korea through the use of “extended deterrence,” which refers to a broad spectrum of U.S. defense capabilities, including nuclear ones.
Their declaration indicated a shift in strategy from what their predecessors had done. While former South Korean President Moon Jae-in was criticized for his dovish engagement strategy, which he said only served to buy North Korea more time to advance its weaponry, former U.S. President Donald Trump made complaints about the cost of the military exercises between the United States and South Korea. Yoon argued that Moon was leaning away from the US and toward North Korea.
The South Korean and U.S. troops haven’t formally disclosed any information on planned summertime training, including when they will begin. Defense sources in South Korea, however, said that in addition to the usual computer-simulated tabletop drills, the exercises will include field exercises for the first time since 2018.
Due to concerns regarding COVID-19 and to endorse the now-stalled U.S.-led diplomatic efforts aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear programme in exchange for political and economic advantages, the U.S. and South Korean troops have recently scaled back or canceled some of their routine exercises.
The United States has urged North Korea to pick up the stale diplomatic relations without any conditions, but North Korea has responded that it won’t return to negotiations until the United States ends its hostile foreign policy toward it. This is likely a reference to the military exercises the US conducts with South Korea and the trade sanctions that are currently in place.
In defiance of U.N. resolutions prohibiting such tests, North Korea has conducted a number of ballistic missile tests this year, including nuclear-capable ones intended to hit both South Korea and the U.S. mainland. According to observers, North Korea wants to be acknowledged as a nuclear power and get the lifting of sanctions.
Choe reiterated North Korea’s earlier assertion that conducting missile tests is a lawful exercise of its sovereign right to national defense. He referred to the recent missile testing by the US and South Korea as “double standards.”
The highly anticipated nuclear test by North Korea, which will be the first of its sort in 5 years, has not yet taken place. Seoul authorities claim that North Korea hasn’t conducted the nuclear test because of an ongoing COVID-19 epidemic and objections from China, its most significant ally and largest assistance donor.
Yoon told reporters on Friday that South Korea is also prepared with countermeasures in case North Korea decides to conduct another nuclear test.
