South Korean Air Pressure F-15K plane take part in South Korea-U.S. joint live-fire drills in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. Joint Press Corps
South Korea and the US will start their annual joint Freedom Defend navy workout routines beginning Monday, the primary to occur beneath U.S. President Donald Trump’s second time period.
Throughout a joint press briefing on Thursday, the Joint Chiefs of Employees and U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) introduced that the 11-day, nonstop workout routines will run via March 20, specializing in enhancing their mixed capabilities to discourage North Korea’s rising nuclear threats.
This yr’s drills will incorporate sensible threats, classes from latest armed conflicts and evolving challenges, together with North Korea’s navy technique and capabilities, in addition to its rising partnership with Russia.
„The ironclad dedication to ROK is powerful as ever. We’re absolutely in Freedom Defend 2025,“ USFK spokesperson Col. Ryan Donald stated, when requested about considerations that Trump would possibly scale down the drills. ROK stands for Republic of Korea, South Korea’s official title.
„What we’re doing proper now’s constructing our readiness capabilities to defend ROK towards any menace, defend these folks residing in ROK and defend our homelands,“ he added.
Col. Lee Sung-joon, left, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Employees, shakes fingers with Col. Ryan Donald, spokesperson for the U.S. Forces Korea throughout a briefing on the Ministry of Nationwide Protection, Thursday. Yonhap
Throughout his first time period, Trump described the joint drills as „costly conflict video games“ and suspended them in 2018 whereas in search of a dialogue with North Korean chief Kim Jong-un. The workout routines resumed in 2022.
„The dimensions of mixed workout routines stays unchanged, with roughly 19,000 personnel collaborating,“ stated Joint Chiefs of Employees spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-joon.
He additionally said that the drills will embody joint all-domain reside subject coaching workout routines throughout land, sea, air, cyber and house domains, built-in inside the train eventualities to boost interoperability and strengthen mixed deterrence capabilities.
Some United Nations Command member states will take part within the drills, whereas the Impartial Nations Supervisory Fee will observe. The fee was established as a part of an armistice settlement that ended the preventing within the 1950-53 Korean Battle. It oversees and screens the armistice phrases between North and South Korea.
It stays unclear whether or not the U.S. will deploy nuclear belongings reminiscent of strategic bombers or nuclear submarines to the Korean Peninsula through the train. In earlier years, the drills have included superior U.S. weaponry, reminiscent of bombers flown in from Guam.
Lee declined to specify whether or not the usCarl Vinson plane service, which arrived within the southern port metropolis of Busan on Sunday, will take part within the drills.
The joint drills, nevertheless, bought off to a rocky begin as seven civilians have been injured throughout a live-fire train linked to Freedom Defend in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Thursday.
The train, held about 30 kilometers south of the Demilitarized Zone separating the 2 Koreas, was a preparatory drill forward of the particular Freedom Defend. It concerned roughly 500 troops and greater than 150 items of navy {hardware}.
In keeping with the South Korean Air Pressure, a KF-16 fighter jet collaborating within the live-fire train abnormally launched eight MK-82 bombs exterior the designated coaching vary at 10:04 a.m., which landed on a close-by residential space.
The incident left a minimum of 15 folks with minor to critical accidents, and destroyed a church and 6 different buildings within the village. A cargo automobile was additionally broken.
The Air Pressure stated it’s conducting an investigation into the accident and apologized for the harm to civilians. Joint Chiefs of Employees Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo and USFK Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson have been overseeing the live-fire drills.
Firefighters are seen in a village in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday, after a bomb fell throughout a South Korea-U.S. joint live-fire drill. Joint Press Corps
