U.S., South Korea to start large-scale joint military drills Aug. 18
SEOUL, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The United States and South Korea will kick off a major joint military exercise this month, both countries announced Thursday, with a focus on deterring North Korea's growing threats amid unrequited diplomatic outreach from Seoul.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise will take place Aug. 18-28 and will incorporate "realistic threats, including lessons learned from recent conflicts ... to further strengthen the Alliance's readiness and capabilities through combined, joint, all-domain operations," the militaries said in a joint statement.
The exercise will include live field maneuvers, computer simulation-based command post exercises and related civil defense drills.
"This iteration of UFS 25 will be executed on a similar scale to the previous iteration," Col. Lee Sung-jun, spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a joint press briefing in Seoul on Thursday.
Some 18,000 South Korean troops will take part, Lee said. U.S. Forces Korea did not disclose the number of participating troops.
The exercise comes as the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is attempting to improve frayed relations with Pyongyang, which frequently condemns the allies' joint drills as rehearsals for an invasion.
Col. Lee said that roughly half of the 40 planned field training exercises will be rescheduled to next month, but dismissed any political motives behind the decision.
"The military has comprehensively assessed based on multiple factors, including ensuring training conditions due to the recent heat wave, as well as maintaining a balanced ROK-U.S. combined readiness posture ... and made the decision to reschedule certain training events to next month," Lee said.
"Any training events linked to the combined exercise scenario as well as [those] having any deployed assets or personnel to the Peninsula by the U.S. will proceed as planned," he added.
North Korea, which has strengthened military ties with Russia and continues to develop its nuclear and missile programs, will be a focus of the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, U.S. Forces Korea spokesman Col. Ryan Donald said at the briefing.
"We'll work to deter and defeat the DPRK's various threats, such as their weapons of mass destruction," Donald said, using the official acronym for North Korea.
The training will draw on information from ongoing military conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, he said, as well as the military cooperation between Russia and North Korea.
"We take those lessons learned from the modern battlefield and incorporate that," Donald said. "We are focused on assuring the alliance remains strategically sustainable, credibly deters aggression from the DPRK and addresses broader regional challenges."
The exercise will also address threats from terrorism, drones, GPS jamming and cyberattacks, both officials said. It will include a scenario on a North Korean missile launch but would not cover nuclear use by Pyongyang, Lee added.
North Korea has not yet publicly commented on this year's exercise. Last week, Kim Yo Jong -- the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Yo Jong -- condemned Seoul's "blind trust" in its military alliance with Washington and rejected efforts by the Lee Jae Myung administration to improve relations.
In their joint statement released Thursday, the allies stressed that the exercise is "defensive in nature."
In addition to U.S. and South Korean forces, personnel from other member countries of the United Nations Command will join the exercise, while the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission will observe to monitor compliance with the Armistice Agreement.
The U.S.-led UNC plays a key role in maintaining and enforcing the armistice agreement that halted fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War, with duties that include controlling DMZ access and communicating with the North Korean military.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
Trump extends China tariff deadline by another 90 days
Aug. 11 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump has signed an executive order, delaying the deadline for the United States to implement higher tariffs on Chinese goods by another 90 days, the White House announced Monday. The order was signed just before midnight, Sunday, hours before the current tariff pause was set to expire. The extension to Nov. 9 follows progress last month in Stockholm, Sweden, during talks between U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators. "We hope that the U.S. will work with China to follow the important consensus reached during the phone call between the two heads of state ... and strive for positive outcomes on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit," foreign ministry spokesman, Lin Jian, said in a statement. Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he, too, was optimistic about "the makings" of a trade deal with China. China is one of the United State's largest trade partners. In June, Trump announced a trade agreement with China over rare earth minerals. Under the deal, China would export rare earth minerals to the United States with both countries reducing their tariffs for 90 days. Rare earth minerals fuel energy sources for mobile devices and electric vehicles. As Trump signed the executive order Sunday night, he called on China to quadruple its purchases of American soybeans to reduce the United States' trade deficit with China. "China is worried about its shortage of soybeans. Our great farmers produce the most robust soybeans. I hope China will quickly quadruple its soybean orders," Trump wrote in a post on X. "This is a way of substantially reducing China's Trade Deficit with the United States. Rapid service will be provided. Thank you President Xi." Despite ongoing trade threats, China's economy posted second quarter Gross Domestic Product growth at 5.2% last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, as exporters took advantage of the Trump administration's pauses in reciprocal tariffs, which were announced April 2. Since the announcement, Trump hit China with tariffs as high as 145%, while China threatened retaliatory tariffs of 125%. During the initial 90-day truce, the United States reduced its China tariffs to 30%, with China dropping its tariffs on U.S. goods to 10%. "We'll see what happens," Trump told reporters at the White House. "They've been dealing quite nicely. The relationship is very good with President Xi and myself." Over the past few weeks, the Trump administration announced trade deals -- to lower tariffs in exchange for larger U.S. investment -- with Japan, South Korea and the European Union.
UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
U.S. vets ask Florida governor to end death penalty for military vets
Aug. 11 (UPI) -- As Florida prepares to execute its fourth U.S. veteran this year, more than 130 U.S. veterans in nearly every branch of service have requested for Gov. Ron DeSantis to end the state's executions of convicted vets. A delegation of scores of American veterans will gather Wednesday morning in the state's capital in Tallahassee to issue a plea in a signed letter to DeSantis, imploring the two-term Republican to stop Florida's executions of American military service veterans. "To execute a veteran who was broken by war and left without adequate care is not justice," the letter by veterans with a combined 1,400 years of service reads in part. "It is a failure of duty," it added. "It is the final abandonment." Wednesday's press event and letter presentation in Tallahassee organized by the Center for Veteran Criminal Advocacy will highlight advocates and Tom Dunn, a retired U.S. Army officer and attorney for Florida death row inmate and veteran Kyle Bates. "Executing our nation's warriors should call for deep soul searching," said Art Cody, the center's director, on Monday. "We owe veterans better than what they are now receiving in Florida." Bates is scheduled for death Aug. 19 and, if executed as planned, will be Florida's fourth veteran and tenth individual this year executed in the Sunshine State. Cody, a lawyer who later served as a U.S. Navy captain, noted that the U.S. veteran population has "undergone an experience profoundly different than civilians." "The arduous, and, at times, gruesome conditions that are part and parcel of war include the daily threat of death from various sources and viewing the aftermath of the carnage of modern war," he said in a statement. "Such frequent association with violence and death does not leave one unscathed," he continued. Roughly 5% of the U.S. population are veterans, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The veteran-supported letter to the former GOP presidential candidate pointed out that five U.S. vets -- Bobby Joe Long, Duane Owen, Edward James, Jeffrey Hutchinson and Edward Zakrzewski -- had been put to death since DeSantis took office in January 2019. "There are close to 30 veterans remaining on death row, and countless others facing death penalty trials throughout the state," the letter says. U.S. Army Master Sergeant Brent Schneider, an assistant public defender, said Monday in a release how Florida should be "protecting our veterans" and instead ensure those who return home with injuries "both visible and invisible, get the support that they deserve." "They have served honorably to protect us, and now we have a duty to ensure that they are protected and not subject to execution," he went on to say. DeSantis, 46, was a lawyer and U.S. Navy veteran prior to his 2007 Iraq War deployment. "We can never be a veteran friendly state when our leader is signing off on their deaths at the hands of the State," the letter to DeSantis stated. "We urge you now to lead from a place of bravery, to return to the honor code from your service and to stop setting the executions of our fellow soldiers." Data by the Center for Death Penalty Litigation suggests that veterans represent around 10% of prisoners on death row in the United States. Last month, religious leaders across Florida also requested that DeSantis put a pause on state executions after it saw more prisoners executed in a single year since the penalty was reinstated nearly a half century ago. Ron Wright, a former Florida death row inmate since exonerated, also urged DeSantis on Monday to "recognize the humanity" and to "take action to prevent their needless deaths." "To execute our brave men and women who have served in our armed forces is a betrayal," Wright said. Meanwhile, the live-streamed event on Wednesday in Tallahassee will start at 11 a.m.
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Trump wants troops in D.C. But don't expect him to stop there
Well, at least they're not eating the cats and dogs. To hear President Trump tell it, Washington, D.C., has become a barbarous hellhole — worse even than Springfield, Ohio, it would seem, where he accused Black immigrants, many from Somalia, of barbecuing pets last year during the campaign. Back then, Trump was just a candidate. Now, he's the commander in chief of the U.S. military with a clear desire to use troops of war on American streets, whether it's for a fancy birthday parade, to enforce his immigration agenda in Los Angeles or to stop car thefts in the nation's capital. 'It's becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness,' Trump said during a Monday news conference, announcing that he was calling up National Guard troops to help with domestic policing in D.C. 'We'll get rid of the slums, too. We have slums here. We'll get rid of them,' he said. 'I know it's not politically correct. You'll say, 'Oh, so terrible.' No, we're getting rid of the slums where they live.' Where 'they' live. While the use of the military on American streets is alarming, it should be just as scary how blatantly this president is tying race not just to crime, but to violence so uncontrollable it requires military troops to stop it. Tying race to criminality is nothing new, of course. It's a big part of American history and our justice system has unfortunately been steeped in it, from the Jim Crow era to the 1990s war on drugs, which targeted inner cities with the same rhetoric that Trump is recycling now. The difference between that last attack on minorities — started by President Nixon and lasting through Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, also under the guise of law and order — and our current circumstances is that in this instance, the notion of war isn't just hyperbole. We are literally talking about soldiers in the streets, targeting Black and brown people. Whether they are car wash employees in California or teenagers on school break in D.C., actual crimes don't seem to matter. Skin color is enough for law enforcement scrutiny, a sad and dangerous return to an era before civil rights. 'Certainly the language that President Trump is using with regard to D.C. has a message that's racially based,' said Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. Chemerinsky pointed out that just a few days ago, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals called out the Trump administration for immigration raids that were unconstitutional because they were basically racial sweeps. But he is unabashed. His calls for violence against people of color are escalating. It increasingly appears that bringing troops to Los Angeles was a test case for a larger use of the military in civilian settings. 'This will go further,' Trump ominously said, making it clear he'd like to see soldiers policing across America. 'We have other cities also that are bad, very bad. You look at Chicago, how bad it is,' he went on. 'We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. We don't even mention that anymore, they're so, they're so far gone.' In reality, crime is dropping across the United States, including in Washington. As the Washington Post pointed out, violent crime rates, including murders, have for the most part been on a downward trend since 2023. But all it takes is a few explosive examples to banish truth from conscientiousness. Trump pointed out some tragic and horrific examples — including the beating of Edward 'Big Balls' Coristine, a former employee of the president's Department of Government Efficiency who was attacked after attempting to defend a woman during a carjacking recently, not far from the White House. These are crimes that should be punished, and certainly not tolerated. But the exploitation we are seeing from Trump is a dangerous precedent to justify military force for domestic law enforcement, which until now has been forbidden — or at least assumed forbidden — by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. This week, just how strong that prohibition is will be debated in a San Francisco courtroom, during the three-day trial over the deployment of troops in Los Angeles. While it's uncertain how that case will resolve, 'Los Angeles could provide a bit of a road map for any jurisdiction seeking to push back against the Trump administration when there's a potential threat of sending in federal troops,' Jessica Levinson, a constitutional legal scholar at Loyola Law School, told me. Again, California coming out as the biggest foil to a Trump autocracy. But while we wait in the hopes that the courts will catch up to Trump, we can't be blind to what is happening on our streets. Race and crime are not linked by anything other than racism. Allowing our military to terrorize Black and brown people under the guise of law and order is nothing more than a power grab based on the exploitation of our darkest natures. It's a tactic Trump has perfected, but one which will fundamentally change, and weaken, American justice if we do not stop it.
