SEOUL — Several thousand South Korean and US troops took half in joint live-fire workouts on Thursday, in a present of drive after North Korea’s failed try final month to launch a spy satellite tv for pc ratcheted up tensions within the area.
The drills, overseen by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, are additionally being held to mark the seventieth anniversary of the alliance between the nations and the seventy fifth anniversary of the founding of the South Korean navy, his workplace stated.
A complete of two,500 troops took half within the drills in Pocheon, northeast of Seoul, supported by “cutting-edge” navy belongings, together with South Korean F-35 fighters and K9 self-propelled howitzers and US F-16 jets and Gray Eagle drones.
“The exercises were aimed at checking the ability to conduct combined and joint operations to realize ‘peace through strength’ through practical maneuvering and live-fire training under the scenario of a North Korean provocation,” Yoon’s workplace stated in an announcement, describing them as the most important live-fire drills ever held with the United States.
The preliminary section of the drills have been designed to point out a response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and a full-scale assault.
Later in this system, allied troops ready the bottom for a counterattack via air and artillery precision strikes on key targets, with a purpose to “completely destroy the North’s military threats,” it stated.
North Korea unsuccessfully tried to launch a spy satellite tv for pc late final month, in its first such try since 2016, with the rocket booster and payload plunging into the ocean.
Seoul and Washington condemned the launch as a grave provocation and violation of UN Security Council resolutions banning the North’s use of ballistic missile expertise.
Pyongyang stated it was exercising its proper to house growth and vowed to stage one other launch quickly to spice up its surveillance capabilities in opposition to US and South Korean threats.
The remoted North has beforehand reacted angrily to the allies’ navy drills, calling them a rehearsal for its invasion.
The United States has about 28,500 troops in South Korea. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
