On August 22, the U.S. and South Korean militaries launched the largest joint live-fire military exercise "Ulchi Freedom Shield" since 2018. More than 30,000 South Korean and U.S. officers and soldiers and a full set of land, sea and air strategic and tactical equipment participated in the exercise. Will run until September 1st.

On the same day, South Korea also launched a four-day "Ulji Civil Defense" drill.

Although the South Korean and U.S. governments and militaries did their best to disguise this as a "defensive" nature, Western media reports said that the purpose of the U.S.-South Korea military exercise was to "deal with the escalating North Korean nuclear threat and China's challenge".

　　Several experts on the peninsula issue pointed out that such a strong, non-defensive joint military exercise between the ROK and the United States is not helpful for restarting the dialogue with the DPRK. It is just a poison and should be interrupted.

Largest in 5 years

　　This year's South Korea-US joint military exercise launched a new code name "Ulji Freedom Shield". According to Yonhap News Agency, this means that the "Ulji Freedom Guardian" South Korea-US joint military exercise, which was interrupted after 2017, "reloaded and started."

This is also the first time South Korea and the U.S. have resumed joint field mobile training at regiment level or above after a lapse of four years.

　　According to the work report submitted by the South Korean Ministry of Defense to the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly in early August, this year's "Ulchi Freedom Shield" joint military exercise is divided into two stages: the first stage is to carry out the exercise with the assumed goal of defending the capital area, and the second stage is to carry out the exercise. Focus on rehearsing counter-offensive operations.

The subjects of the exercise include command post exercises using computer simulation and 13 field maneuvering exercises.

It is expected that more than 30,000 South Korean and American officers and soldiers will participate in the exercise, including more than 10,000 U.S. troops and more than 20,000 South Korean troops.

At the same time, many land, sea and air strategic weapons, including aircraft carrier battle groups, B-2 and B-52 strategic bombers and F-35 stealth fighters, will be put into the exercise.

　　In addition, the South Korean side also launched a four-day "Ulji Civil Defense" exercise mainly participated by government employees on August 22, including simulated joint attacks, front-line weapons and fuel supply, and elimination of weapons of mass destruction.

This is the first civil defense exercise in South Korea since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic.

　　The US "Capitol Hill" reported on August 23 that this year's South Korea-US joint military exercise is the largest in five years.

Previously, in order to improve relations with North Korea and create an atmosphere for diplomatic negotiations, South Korea and the United States have postponed, canceled or reduced the scale of military exercises several times, or replaced field combat training with computer simulation exercises.

In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump called off almost all joint military exercises between South Korea and the US to create a favorable atmosphere for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in 2019, this military exercise has been shelved.

In May of this year, South Korean President Yoon Seok-wyeh said when he took office that the "era of appeasing North Korea" was over, and the joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States should be "normalized" to "increase deterrence against North Korea."

On August 22, Yin Xiyue also spoke out for the South Korea-US military exercise at a cabinet meeting.

He said the military and civil defense exercises are aimed at improving South Korea's combat readiness to adapt to changing war patterns, and "maintaining South Korea's tight security status is the basis for maintaining peace on the Korean peninsula."

He also revealed that the military exercise will focus on rehearsing the protection of nuclear power plants, semiconductor factories, airports and other facilities between South Korea and the United States during wartime.

　　Some experts on the peninsula issue said that the resumption of large-scale live-fire military exercises between South Korea and the United States marks that the Yun Xiyue government has abandoned the North-South engagement policy pursued by the Moon Jae-in government, and it also means that South Korea’s previous diplomatic efforts to promote North Korea’s nuclear abandonment failed.

The training subjects are amazing

　　The South Korean Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Pentagon invariably avoided discussing the specific subjects of the exercise when they announced the exercise on August 23.

　　However, the U.S. think tank "Global Security Organization" disclosed on August 23 that the "Ulchi Freedom Shield" military exercise tested the "pre-emptive" strike capability of the South Korean and U.S. armies and the ability to "reject" large-scale ground attacks. Specifically, it includes 13 items such as "beheading" military and political leaders, looting nuclear facilities and nuclear weapons, and removing enemy military capabilities.

　　The Associated Press also reported the details of the "Ulji Civil Defense" exercise on August 22: simulating how South Korean government agencies should respond when faced with joint strikes; weapons of mass destruction, etc.

In addition, in response to the new war pattern that occurred in the Ukraine war, participating South Korean government employees also rehearsed how to respond to drone attacks, how to protect the security of airports and ports, and how to deal with critical facilities such as chip factories and supply chains. of cyber threats.

　　The Yonhap News Agency also reported on August 23 that although South Korea and the United States hold regular joint military exercises every spring and summer, the spring joint exercises are land, sea and air live-fire exercises, and the summer exercises are mainly computer simulations. Due to the easing of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the scale of the exercise and the subjects of the exercise were intentionally reduced.

In contrast, this year's military exercise is not only the largest in scale, but also "amazing" in terms of training subjects.

Military exercises threaten East Asian security

　　What is more noteworthy is that this joint military exercise also adopted the concept of "national total war" to implement theater-level exercises.

South Korea's "Central Daily" pointed out that "national total war" means that all available resources and means can be used to fight.

The Yonhap News Agency also pointed out that the exercise of the concept of full-scale war and the expansion of the scale of the actual maneuver exercise under the background of the emergency situation on the Korean peninsula implies that the exercise will be quite aggressive.

　　Regarding the background of this "Ulchi Freedom Shield" exercise, Yin Xiyue's government, the White House and the Pentagon have repeatedly claimed that this is related to North Korea's "repeated provocation", saying that North Korea launched more than 30 ballistic missiles last year, and North Korea It is likely that preparations for a "seventh nuclear test" are underway.

　　The U.S. "Washington Post" reported on August 22, citing Kim Song, a policy analyst at the U.S. RAND think tank, "Both the U.S. and South Korea expected that this exercise would provoke strong dissatisfaction and anger from North Korea, but this is nothing new... South Korea and the U.S. The decision to fully resume joint military exercises shows that President Biden and President Yin Xiyue have the same concept, that diplomacy is based on a strong military force, and deterring North Korea should be a priority."

　　Hong Myung, a senior scholar at the National Unification Research Institute in South Korea, also said, "Although the direct target of the South Korea-US joint military exercise is the North Korean threat, the multiple capabilities of its training will also be used to deal with other tensions in Asia." Last week, the United States, South Korea and Japan held ballistic missile defense exercises off the coast of Hawaii.

This is the first such exercise since 2017.

　　Qatar's Al Jazeera reported on August 23 that although Pentagon spokesman Martin Minas said in an interview that the U.S. and South Korea held exercises aimed at maintaining the alliance between the two countries and the security and stability of the Korean peninsula.

However, Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council, said that the U.S.-South Korea military exercises on the Korean peninsula are a provocative tactic of the United States and its allies. "Washington plans to deploy strategic forces on the Korean peninsula, which will lead to more tension. situation".

　　Van Jackson, a Defense Department official during the Obama administration who is now at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, said that while the resumption of large-scale live-fire military exercises shows that the United States and South Korea are normalizing their military alliances, the move may only spur North Korea's current Nuclear modernization, "the exercises will make it all the more justified against Washington and its allies."

From a geopolitical perspective, such military exercises are also detrimental to the stability of East Asia as a whole, Jackson said.

　　In fact, the South Korean-US military exercise has already drawn strong protests from many South Korean civic groups.

On August 22, South Korea's "Peaceful Unification Pioneer" issued a statement saying that this military exercise restarted the joint field maneuver training that was interrupted after 2017. situation.

Wu Meizhen, a researcher of the group, said that the joint military exercise will not contribute to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the peace and stability of Northeast Asia. South Korea and the United States should discontinue the joint military exercise.

Kwok Tae-hwan, former director of the Korea Unification Research Institute, also pointed out that from the perspective of North Korea, the so-called counterattack training in the second stage of this exercise is the training to attack the DPRK, which is not helpful for restarting the dialogue with the DPRK.

Kwon Ki-sik, a former research professor at the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at Hanyang University in South Korea, also said that war must never happen again on the Korean peninsula, and South Korea and the United States should not hold joint military exercises that would trigger tensions on the peninsula, but should strive to have a dialogue with North Korea.

The United States has acted for its own selfish interests to increase tensions and push the world into a "new cold war", which is not conducive to the stability of the world order and the prosperity and cooperation of all countries.

North Korea denounces Yoon Seok-hye's government for 'two-sided tactics'

　　North Korea has always characterized the South Korea-US joint military exercise as a threatening move hostile to North Korea.

On August 22, the North Korean media "Between Our Nation" commented, condemning the South Korea-US joint military exercise conducted by the Yin Xiyue government after proposing a "bold vision" of its policy toward North Korea.

　　In its comments, the DPRK side said that while conducting joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, the act of extending a helping hand to North Korea using economic aid as a bait is not only not a "bold conception", but more akin to a "two-sided tactic" of threatening or mocking. It can be seen as a repetition of failed policies.

　　Five days before the South Korea-US military exercise, that is, on August 17, Yin Xiyue publicly proposed his "bold vision" for North Korea policy at his 100-day press conference: as long as North Korea gives up developing nuclear weapons, the South Korean government will provide coverage to North Korea. Aid in the fields of economy, military, agriculture, etc. "helps North Korea to improve the economic situation and the quality of life of its residents in an epoch-making way."

　　In this regard, the North Korean media "Between Our Nation" criticized on August 22 that the "bold concept" is an unrealistic and unrealizable dream from the beginning.

If the Yin Xiyue government is as obsessed with unachievable goals as previous regimes and wastes time, it will face greater threats sooner or later.

　　In response to the South Korea-US military exercise, Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, also said on July 27 that if the South Korean government makes any "dangerous attempts", such as preemptive strikes, it will face the end of the entire army.

North Korea's armed forces are fully prepared to deal with any crisis.

　　This newspaper, Beijing, August 24th

　　China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Chen Xiaoru Source: China Youth Daily