In light of the North Korean government’s recent threats of starting a second Korean War, the U.S. and South Korean militaries announced that they will be hosting the largest joint military exercise that has ever been organized in the 65-year history of the Korean forces. SBS reported that out of the 650,000 South Korean military personnel from the army., navy and air force, and marine core, around 330,000 will be participating in these training exercises.
South Korea’s SBS News reported that the exercises will be lasting for 2 weeks, and scheduled to begin next week. The U.S. and Korean militaries will be training under a simulated North Korean invasion. Though such training programs are hosted at the end of every year, Yong-Sup Wi, a spokesperson for Korea’s Ministry of Defense announced that this year will be the largest joint military exercise the Republic of Korea forces has ever undertaken in its history.
Wi also told SBS that the forces will be focusing mainly on tackling North Korean areal missile attacks, so the Korean army and air force will be working on their ground-to-air strategies during the upcoming 2 weeks.
Right now, the South Korean Ministry of Defense is in the process of developing its own missile defense system (KAMD) with the aid of U.S. technology. It is reported that the U.S. government has agreed to supply Korea with 136 of its Patriot-3 missiles which the South Korean military hopes to deploy by the year 2020.
They will also be preparing for possible North Korean naval assaults particularly from the Yellow Sea. In the past, the North Korean navy and the KPA (Korean People’s Army) artillery stationed near the maritime border have been known to threaten South Korean civilians and provoked the military through firing rounds and infiltrating South Korean seas. In some cases, this led to great losses of life.
In 2010 a North Korean submarine sank a South Korean frigate warship that led to the death of over a 100 sailors, and only weeks later, the KPA artillery bombarded the island of Yeonpyeongdo killing a handful of civilians and 2 marines. The South Korean artillery retaliated with their K-9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers but no real damage was inflicted on the North Korean forces.
For this year’s training, South Korea will be deploying its marines and artillery stationed on the main islands in the Yellow Sea right outside the NLL (Northern Limit Line), the Korean maritime border. Until 2010, the South Korean forces have been heavily criticized for insufficient surveillance near the maritime border, but now the Army has deployed more K-9 howitzers and UAVs to maintain security.
