Korea, U.S. begin largest
South Korea and the United States kicked off their largest-ever annual joint military exercises on Monday with a special focus on bolstering the allies' wartime capability to launch precision strikes on North Korea's top leadership, officials said Monday.
The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises, each a command post-based and field training war game, began their weeks-long schedules amid escalating military tensions between South and North Korea following Pyongyang's nuclear and long-range missile tests earlier this year.
North Korea threatened to launch an "all-out offensive" against Seoul and Washington as the allies kicked off the joint exercises earlier in the day.
This year's exercises mobilize some 17,000 U.S. troops, the largest number of American forces in about 40 years and about twice the size of a year earlier, according to military officials here.
The U.S. will also deploy the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74), a nuclear-powered submarine, aerial tanker aircraft and reportedly the B-2 stealth bomber during the annual springtime exercises.
From the South Korean side, some 300,000 troops will take part.
Military sources said the exercises will newly incorporate the allies' recently-signed operational plan, OPLAN 5015, which stipulates allied operations to launch precision attacks on North Korea's top leadership and its nuclear and missile arsenal in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula.
The allies are also known to be integrating their new "4D" anti-North operational plan into the exercises, which details the allies' pre-emptive military operations to detect, disrupt, destroy and defend against North Korea's nuclear and missile arsenal.
"The focus of the exercises will be on hitting North Korea's key facilities precisely," one military official said.
Key Resolve will run through mid-March, while Foal Eagle will continue until late April.
Also on Monday the allies kicked off their biennial joint amphibious exercise, Ssangyong, involving more than 5,000 South Korean marine and Navy personnel along with 7,000 U.S. marine troops.
Mobilizing more than three U.S. Navy ships, including the amphibious assault vessel USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), the drill will train forces on special operations and landing combat forces near critical North Korean targets, according to officials.
North Korea is likely to respond to the massive joint exercises with retaliatory military action.
During last year's exercises, North Korea fired short-range ballistic and surface-to-air missiles in protest of what they denounced as a prelude to an invasion of the North.
"We are keeping close watch for the North Korean military's further provocations that could come in the future," one military official said, asking not to be named. (Yonhap)
- 最近发表
-
- Police bust crypto scammer who received plastic surgery to evade arrest
- Putin's North Korea visit cut short due to late arrival
- Federer celebrates 1,500th match with Basel breeze
- Summertime sea surface temperatures in S. Korea rises by almost 3 years
- 评论丨农事运动会:一场农民的盛会、新农人风采展现的盛会、城乡双向奔赴的盛会
- [Newsmaker] Court refuses search warrants against judges
- How to use PayPal on Amazon
- Twitter returns to the old version of TweetDeck
- 18 Slightly Submerged Architectural Wonders
- Twitter's and Twitter Blue's handles are now @x and @xblue
- 随机阅读
-
- Ruling bloc seeks tougher sentences for deepfake sex crimes
- We guess you could display flowers in this suspiciously NSFW vase
- Sanctions won't stop N. Korea provocations
- Full text of N. Korean leader's statement to Trump
- Naver, Kakao strive to combat deepfake porn spreading online
- 想买房? 看看这些小技巧
- PM to visit Indonesia to attend Asian Games
- Justin Bieber plays 'Pokémon Go', just like us
- Sinner vs. Michelsen 2024 livestream: Watch US Open for free
- Rescue puppy's delightfully weird portraits scream 'adopt me'
- Twitter's and Twitter Blue's handles are now @x and @xblue
- How shops and restaurants are creatively cashing in on 'Pokémon Go'
- Ruling bloc divided on foreign nannies' pay
- Turkey's president releases statement via FaceTime as country in chaos
- Periscope and Facebook Live help document attempted coup in Turkey
- 去年广东96个省产业园规模以上工业增加值3328.6亿元丨2024广东两会
- Pakistan Cricket at crossroads after shock defeat at Pindi
- How to use PayPal on Amazon
- Justin Bieber plays 'Pokémon Go', just like us
- 大力开展整治行动 打击货车违法行为
- 搜索
-
- 友情链接
-