US, South Korea troops hold large live-fire drills

SEOUL, South Korea — The South Korean and U.S. militaries conducted large live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, despite the North’s warning that it won’t tolerate what it calls an invasion rehearsal on its doorstep.

The drills, the first of five rounds of live-fire exercises through mid-June, mark 70 years since the establishment of the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. North Korea typically reacts to such major South Korean-U.S. exercises with missile and other weapons tests.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 missiles, but none since it fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in mid-April. It says the tests are a response to expanded military drills between the U.S. and South Korea, but observers say North Korea aims to advance its weapons development and then wrest greater concessions from its rivals in eventual diplomacy.

The U.S.-South Korean firing exercises, called “Combined annihilation firepower drills,” are the biggest of their kind. The drills have been held 11 times since they began in 1977, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.

The drills involved 2,500 troops and 610 weapons systems such as fighter jets, attack helicopters, drones, tanks and artillery from South Korea and the United States, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry. The most recent exercises in 2017 drew about 2,000 soldiers and 250 weapons assets from both countries.

The drills simulated artillery and aerial strikes on front-line North Korean military facilities in response to an attack. The troops later practiced precision-guided attacks on simulated targets in the rear areas to “completely annihilate” North Korean military threats, according to a ministry statement.

The South Korean army's drones fly during South Korea-U.S. joint military drills at Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, South Korea, Thursday, May 25, 2023. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

It said South Korea will seek to establish “peace through overwhelming strengthen” to counter North Korean threats.

North Korea didn’t immediately respond to the start of the drills. Last Friday, its state media called the drills “a typical North Korea-targeted war rehearsal,” saying it “cannot but take a more serious note of the fact” that the exercises are held a few kilometers (miles) from its frontier.

The North’s Korean Central News Agency said the U.S. and South Korea would face unspecified consequences over “their madcap nuclear war racket.”

Earlier this year, the South Korean and U.S. militaries conducted their biggest field exercises in five years . The U.S. also sent the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and nuclear-capable bombers for joint exercises with South Korea.

Moon Seong Mook, an analyst for the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, said North Korea could use the South Korea-U.S. drills as a pretext to resume testing activities. He said domestic issues such as North Korea’s push to increase agricultural production during the rice-planting season could still affect its decision on weapons tests.

“North Korea can’t help feeling some burdens over the South Korea-U.S. joint firepower drills being held for the first time in six years and in the strongest manner,” Moon said.

In a meeting last month, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced steps to reinforce their deterrence capabilities such as the periodic docking of U.S. nuclear-armed submarines in South Korea, strengthened joint training exercises and establishment of a new nuclear consultative group. Biden also issued a blunt warning that any North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies would “result in the end of whatever regime” took such action.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said the Biden-Yoon agreement revealed the two countries’ “most hostile and aggressive will of action” against the North. She threatened to further strengthen her country’s nuclear doctrine, saying, “The pipe dream of the U.S. and South Korea will henceforth be faced with the entity of more powerful strength.”

Worries about North Korea’s nuclear program grew after the North last year passed a law authorizing preemptive use of nuclear weapons. Many foreign experts say North Korea does not yet possess functioning nuclear-armed missiles.

韩国首尔——尽管朝鲜警告称不会容忍在其家门口进行所谓的入侵演习，但韩国和美国军队周四仍在朝韩边境附近举行了大规模实弹演习。

此次演习是六月中旬前五轮实弹演习的首轮，也标志着首尔和华盛顿建立军事同盟70周年。朝鲜通常会以导弹和其他武器试验来回应韩美此类大规模联合军演。

自2022年初以来，朝鲜已试射超过100枚导弹，但自4月中旬试射固体燃料洲际弹道导弹后便未再进行任何导弹试射。朝鲜声称这些试射是对美韩扩大联合军演的回应，但观察人士认为，朝鲜此举意在推进武器研发，并最终通过外交手段从对手那里争取更多让步。

美韩联合进行的“联合歼灭火力演习”是同类演习中规模最大的。据韩国国防部称，自1977年开始以来，该演习已举行过11次。

据韩国国防部消息，此次演习韩美两国共出动2500名士兵和610件武器装备，包括战斗机、武装直升机、无人机、坦克和火炮等。最近一次演习是在2017年，当时两国约有2000名士兵和250件武器装备参加。

演习模拟了对朝鲜前线军事设施进行炮击和空袭，以应对袭击。国防部声明称，演习结束后，部队还对后方模拟目标进行了精确制导打击，以“彻底消灭”朝鲜军事威胁。

2023年5月25日星期四，在韩国抱川市承津消防训练场举行的韩美联合军事演习中，韩国陆军的无人机正在飞行。（安永俊/美联社）

声明称，韩国将寻求“以压倒性实力建立和平”，以应对朝鲜的威胁。

朝鲜方面并未立即对演习的开始作出回应。上周五，其官方媒体称此次演习是“典型的针对朝鲜的战争演练”，并表示“不得不更加严肃地关注”演习地点距离其边境仅几公里（英里）。

朝鲜中央通讯社称，美国和韩国将因其“疯狂的核战争阴谋”面临未指明的后果。

今年早些时候，韩国和美国军队举行了五年来规模最大的联合军演。美国还派出核动力航空母舰“尼米兹”号和具备核打击能力的轰炸机与韩国进行联合演习。

首尔韩国国家战略研究所分析师文成穆表示，朝鲜可能以韩美联合军演为借口恢复武器试验活动。他还指出，朝鲜国内一些问题，例如水稻种植季期间朝鲜为提高农业产量而采取的措施，仍可能影响其武器试验的决定。

“韩美六年来首次举行如此强硬的联合火力演习，朝鲜难免会感到一些压力，”文在寅说。

上个月，美国总统拜登和韩国总统尹锡悦在会晤中宣布了一系列加强威慑能力的措施，例如美国核潜艇定期停靠韩国、加强联合训练演习以及成立新的核问题磋商小组。拜登还发出严厉警告，任何朝鲜对美国或其盟友发动的核攻击都将“导致发动此类行动的政权垮台”。

朝鲜领导人金正恩的妹妹金与正表示，拜登-尹锡悦协议暴露了美韩两国对朝“最具敌意和侵略性的行动意愿”。她威胁要进一步加强朝鲜的核战略，并称“美韩的白日梦今后将面对一个更强大的实体”。

朝鲜去年通过一项授权先发制人使用核武器的法律后，外界对朝鲜核计划的担忧日益加剧。许多外国专家表示，朝鲜目前尚未拥有可正常使用的核导弹。