Washington and Seoul begin their joint military maneuvers
The United States and South Korea kicked off their joint military maneuvers despite threats from Pyongyang, which announced earlier Monday that it had fired two missiles from a submarine.
Two South Korean F-15s.
AFP
Despite North Korea’s threats, South Korea and the United States began their biggest joint military drills on Monday, hours before North Korea announced it had fired two cruise missiles from a submarine.
Pyongyang said it aimed to test “nuclear deterrents at various locations” while criticizing the “Independence Shield” drills between US and South Korean forces to combat growing threats from Pyongyang.
North Korea said the two cruise missiles “accurately hit a predetermined target in the East Sea,” according to the official KCNA news agency, which refers to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. The current UN The sanctions do not in practice prohibit Pyongyang from launching cruise missiles. However, its nuclear weapons-related tests were not allowed.
The test is linked to the fact that Seoul and Washington are “moving less and less” in military maneuvers against North Korea, KCNA said.
“Doubts” over Pyongyang’s submarine program
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday they had detected at least one unidentified missile fired from a North Korean submarine, with US and South Korean intelligence agencies investigating the facts.
Footage released on North Korean state media showed the submarine ‘8.24 Yongung’ firing a missile into the sky with white smoke and flames.
Experts have expressed “significant doubts” about the progress of Pyongyang’s submarine program. Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the images sent showed the missile was launched above the surface of the water. “In this case, (firing) from a submarine is useless” because it is not stealthy, he observed for AFP.
Defense exercises
The South Korean military said the “Independence Shield” drills “include wartime maneuvers to deter North Korean attacks and conduct a stabilization campaign in the North.” South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff emphasized that the drills are “based on self-defense (and) a joint operational plan.”
All such drills draw the ire of Pyongyang, which views them as dress rehearsals for an invasion of its territory and regularly warns against “excessive” action in response. “North Korea uses missiles to (condemn) joint exercises,” said Go Myeong-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.
“He wants to emphasize that the reason for building the missiles is for defensive purposes.” North Korea’s foreign ministry issued a statement on Monday criticizing the “brutal ‘human rights’ fraud” by the Americans, after Washington announced it would convene a meeting at the UN this week on human rights abuses in North Korea.
Other possible scenarios
In 2022, the North called its nuclear status “irreversible” and conducted a record number of ballistic tests in defiance of UN resolutions. KCNA reported on Friday that Kim Jong Un ordered the military to step up military maneuvers for “real war”.
Washington has repeatedly reaffirmed its “unwavering” commitment to defend South Korea using its “full range of military capabilities, including nuclear weapons” and has recently sought to reassure its allies that Seoul has expanded its deterrence capability. South Korea, for its part, is trying to appease public opinion, which worries about U.S. commitments to so-called extended deterrence, which can deter attacks against allies thanks to U.S. military means, including nuclear weapons.
While the North Korean leader’s official policy of giving up nuclear weapons and returning to the negotiating table has not changed, experts believe the practice has changed. Washington “has effectively recognized that North Korea will never give up its nuclear program,” Ahn Chan-il, director of the World Institute for North Korean Studies, told AFP.
“Independence Shield” will therefore be “very different — both qualitatively and quantitatively — from previous joint exercises in recent years,” he added. According to Chun In-bum, a retired South Korean military official, Pyongyang may use the “independence shield” as an “excuse” to invest more in its banned weapons programs. “Further missile launches, variations in style and range, and even a nuclear test are expected. Further acts of intimidation by North Korea would not be surprising.
AFP
Did you find an error?Please let us know.
“Avid gamer. Social media geek. Proud troublemaker. Thinker. Travel fan. Problem solver.”