Ulchi Freedom Shield Exercise Kicks Off this Week as Allies Wait for North Korea’s Response
It will be interesting to see what provocation North Korea decides to go with in response to this military exercise:
During the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, there will be 13 combined field training programs, as well as a full operational capability assessment, a key procedure for the envisioned conditions-based transfer of wartime operational control from Washington to Seoul.
Korea Times
The same day, the government also started the annual Ulchi civil defense training program, led by government employees for the next four days.
“We can protect the lives of the people and national security only through realistic drills. Preserving peace on the Korean Peninsula is built on our airtight defense preparedness,” President Yoon Suk-yeol said at a Cabinet meeting at his office in Seoul. “Today’s war is different from the one of the past. It may involve cyberattacks on key facilities such as ports, airports and (the manufacturing plants of) semiconductors or attacks on the supply chains of important materials, with the aim of neutralizing our war capabilities.”
In fact, during the last five years, the two allies’ regular military drills were canceled or reduced to just computer simulations, while North Korea tested new types of weapons from their arsenal as part of its weapons development program, including hypersonic as well as short-range, intermediate-range and long-range ballistic missiles, which require new contingency plans and new drills.
Although the two allies made it clear that the Ulchi Freedom training exercise is defensive in nature, it is expected to draw an aggressive reaction from the North, which is likely to be ready for its seventh nuclear weapons test.
You can read more at the link.
