Washington and Seoul have once again demonstrated exactly how much they care about peace on the Korean Peninsula by holding a massive live-fire military exercise on South Korean soil right next to the border with North Korea, a country well-known for regarding such moves as antagonistic and provocative.
During the exercise, the US and South Korea deployed some 2,500 soldiers and 610 items of military hardware such as tanks, artillery systems, attack helicopters, fighter aircraft and drones, according to a statement issued by the South Korean Defense Ministry and disseminated by media.
The drills involved simulated strikes against North Korean frontline assets, ostensibly in response to an attack, with the South Korean Defense Ministry boasting that their aim would be to bring “peace through overwhelming strength.”
The military exercise in question became the largest of the so-called “Combined annihilation firepower drills,” a series of drills that have been held since 1977.
North Korean media has already branded the drills as “a typical North Korea-targeted war rehearsal” and promising that there will be consequences, delivering these remarks last week before the actual start of the exercise.
The United States and South Korea have longstanding tradition of holding joint military exercise around the Korean Peninsula and then acting surprised when North Korea does not appreciate such moves on its doorstep.
At least one media outlet has already observed that Pyongyang usually reacts to such drills “with missile and other weapons tests,” apparently suggesting that it will be no different this time.