SEOUL: South Korea’s troops kicked off their annual Hoguk defence drills on Monday (Oct 17), designed to boost their ability to respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats amid simmering tension over both sides’ military activities.
The drills, due to end on Saturday, are the latest in a series of military exercises by South Korea in recent weeks, including joint activities with the United States and Japan.
The latest field training came as North Korea has been carrying out weapons tests at an unprecedented pace this year, firing a short-range ballistic missile and hundreds of artillery rounds near the heavily armed inter-Korean border on Friday.
Pyongyang has angrily reacted to the South Korean and joint military activities, calling them provocations and threatening countermeasures. Seoul says its exercises are regular and defence-oriented.
Joined by some US forces, the South Korean troops will focus on maintaining readiness and improving the troops’ ability to execute joint operations during the Hoguk drills, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
“The forces will conduct real-world day and night manoeuvres simulated to counter North Korea’s nuclear, missile and other various threats, so that they can master wartime and peacetime mission performance capabilities and enhance interoperability with some US forces,” it said in a statement.