SEOUL: South Korea and the United States began their annual shared military drills upon Monday (Aug 22) with a resumption associated with field training, authorities said, as the allies seek to tighten readiness posture over North Korea’s potential weapons tests.
The summertime exercises, renamed Ulchi Independence Shield this year and scheduled to end on Sep 1, emerged after South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took workplace in May, vowed to “normalise” the combined exercises and boost deterrence against the North.
The exercises were scaled in recent years because of COVID-19 and as Yoon’s precursor sought to reboot talks with Pyongyang, which has called the workouts a rehearsal with regard to invasion.
Northern Korea fired 2 cruise missiles from the west coast city of Onchon a week ago, after South Korea and the United States kicked off preliminary working out for the exercises.
North Korea has conducted missile assessments at an unprecedented speed this year and is prepared to conduct its 7th nuclear test at any time, Seoul officials stated.