SEOUL: South Korea’s president Yoon Suk-yeol upon Thursday (Aug 25) ordered an update of the military’s functional plans to address Northern Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats, his office mentioned.
Yoon gave the guidelines at his initial visit to a military bunker in the capital Seoul that would act as a command write-up in the event of a battle.
His go to coincided with the start on Monday of army drills by the armed forces of South Korea and the United States that are the largest in years.
The yearly summertime exercises are actually renamed Ulchi Freedom Shield and are due to finish on Sep 1 . They include the first field education between the two militaries since 2017 after being scaled back amid the COVID-19 pandemic and below Yoon’s predecessor that sought to improve relationships with North Korea.
Yoon pointed out that this year’s exercises were conducted under a changed scenario and the operational plans reveal North Korea’s evolving threats.
“We need to urgently prepare measures to guarantee the lives and real estate of our people, including updating the functional plans against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats that are becoming a reality, inch Yoon told army commanders during the visit.
He furthermore ordered the commanders to speed up plans to set up the alleged “Kill Chain” program, designed to launch preemptive strikes against the North’s missiles and possibly its senior leadership when an imminent strike is detected.