The exercise will be held on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the signing of the mutual defense treaty between the two countries
South Korea and the United States will hold the largest-ever live-fire drills on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the signing of a mutual defense treaty between the two countries, South Korea’s defense ministry announced Saturday.
The drills, to be held five times from May 25 to June 15, will be the largest of their kind and involve F-35A stealth fighter jets, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, K2 tanks, Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers and Other state-of-the-art weapons systems disclosed by the ministry.
It is the first joint live-fire shooting drill between the two countries since 2017 and will be held at the Seungjin Fire Training Ground in Pocheon, northeast of Seoul.
The military drills will mark the 70th anniversary of Seoul and Washington’s alliance, which began three months after the armistice that ended the Korean War in October 1953 when the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty. The exercise also marks the 75th anniversary of the creation of the South Korean military.
South Korean President Yoon Hee-yeol announced a plan to strengthen nuclear cooperation with the United States during his visit to Washington last week. According to the “Washington Declaration”, the United States has regularly deployed nuclear submarines and nuclear bombers to Asian countries for the first time in nearly half a century. While U.S. President Joe Biden has insisted he would not deploy nuclear weapons on South Korean soil — and the agreement precludes Seoul from pursuing its own nuclear weapons program — China has accused Washington of destabilizing the region for its own benefit.
North Korea has tested more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022 and recently demonstrated its first nuclear-capable underwater drone and its first solid-fuel intercontinental missile. Pyongyang sees the South Korea-US joint drills as “provocative” and insists its weapons program is defensive in nature.
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