Defense cooperation between Washington and Seoul is in full swing. “Freedom Shield” exercises between US and South Korean forces began on Monday, March 13. They are the largest joint military maneuvers in five years between the two countries.
Scheduled for ten days, the drills will focus on “the changing security environment” due to North Korea’s heightened aggressiveness, the allies said. Rarely, the South Korean military revealed in early March that special forces from Washington and Seoul would conduct “Teak Knife” military maneuvers – which consist of simulating precision strikes on key facilities in North Korea – before “Freedom Shield”.
All these exercises arouse the ire of Pyongyang which considers them as general rehearsals for an invasion of its territory or an overthrow of its regime, while justifying its own programs of nuclear and ballistic weapons by the need to defend itself.
Pyongyang en « position invariable »
On Sunday, North Korea launched two cruise missiles from a submarine, the North Korean news agency KCNA announced on Monday, which assures that the exercise was crowned with success, the missiles having reached their named and unspecified targets off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.
The agency pointed out that the shot expresses North Korea’s “unchanging position” in the face of a situation in which “US imperialists and South Korean puppet forces are advancing less and less covertly in their military maneuvers against the DPRK”, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Last week, Kim Yo-jong, the very powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, quoted by KCNA, said that an interception of missiles launched by her country would be “considered a clear declaration of war”. In 2022, the North called its status as a nuclear power “irreversible” and conducted a series of ballistic tests in violation of United Nations resolutions.
On Friday, KCNA reported that Kim Jong-un had ordered his army to step up military maneuvers for “real war.” She also said on Sunday that “significant practical measures were discussed and adopted for a more effective, powerful and offensive use of war deterrence”, at a meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party in power chaired by Kim Jong-un.
“Flawless” Commitment
Washington has repeatedly reaffirmed its “unwavering” commitment to defending South Korea using “the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear” and recently sought to reassure Seoul of their extended deterrent capability to their allies. Non-nuclear South Korea remains officially committed to non-proliferation, even as there are mounting domestic calls for the country to obtain its own nuclear weapons.
Although the official policy of the two countries towards the North, namely that the North Korean leader must give up his nuclear weapons and return to the negotiating table, has not changed, experts believe that there is has been a change in practice.
Washington has “effectively recognized that North Korea will never give up its nuclear program,” defector An Chan-il, director of the World Institute for Northern Studies, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). -Koreans. “Freedom Shield” will therefore be “very different – both qualitatively and quantitatively – from previous joint exercises that have taken place in recent years”, he added.
North Korea, which recently called for an “exponential” increase in weapons production, including tactical nuclear weapons, should continue to respond with missile strikes and military maneuvers.
