The ROK and US military authorities have given meaning to the joint exercise scheduled for mid-August as a 'national all-out war'.
The situation on the Korean Peninsula is likely to fluctuate depending on the level of North Korea's response as North Korea is blaming the joint exercise.
Through the talks, the defense ministers of the Republic of Korea and the United States decided to name the joint exercise scheduled for August 22 to September 1 'Eulji Shield of Freedom' (UFS) and to integrate it with the government-level wartime and incident emergency preparedness exercise, Eulji Exercise. Agreed.
In particular, with the war situation in mind, we applied the concept of a “national total warfare” in which not only military responses but also government departments are mobilized.
The two countries did not specifically mention whether or not the strategic assets of the US military will be deployed during this exercise, but there is an observation that the possibility of deployment is high.
South Korea and the United States also agreed to expand the joint practical maneuver training at the regiment level or higher from next year, which the Moon Jae-in administration did not do.
Attention is also focused on the level of North Korea's military response.
The North Korean media continue to 'threate the use of nuclear weapons' by blaming the joint exercises.
There is also the possibility that North Korea will try provocations such as the launch of a ballistic missile, which has been silent for nearly two months since the 5th of last month, during the joint exercise.
In particular, there is a view that August is a major watershed in the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the first turning point in inter-Korean relations under the Yun Seok-yeol administration, as Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, foretold a phase of confrontation between the great rivers and the annihilation of the regime and the military.
(Photo=Washington Correspondent Joint Reporting Group,