Tensions in Asia: US and South Korea promise more military exercises against North Korea

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austinand his South Korean counterpart pledged on Tuesday in Seoul to step up joint military exercises and security cooperation in the face of growing threats from North Korea.

South Korea it wants to toughen ties with Washington after a year in which North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and tested banned weapons almost every month.

Lloyd Austin and Minister of Defense of South Korea Lee Jong subThey agreed to “expand and intensify the level and scale” of joint military exercises in light of Pyongyang’s “continued provocations”, including the recent drone raid, the statement said.

Military tensions on the Korean Peninsula escalated sharply in 2022 when the Northern Core conducted a record number of weapons tests, including firing an advanced ICBM.

Pyongyang sent five drones across the border on December 26, the first such incident in five years, leading to seoul send combat aircraft.

Austin and Lee agreed to “continue to expand and strengthen the scope and level of joint exercises and exercises this year,” Lee said at a press conference in Seoul.

According to him, this is a necessary step in connection with “changes in the security environment, including recent attempts by North Korea to improve its nuclear and missile programs.”

military maneuvers

The two security allies will conduct exercises in February to improve cooperation on “deterrence and response options” against Pyongyang’s nuclear threats.

Any joint military exercise United States of America And South Korea this infuriates Pyongyang, which sees them as a rehearsal for an invasion and often responds with threats and maneuvers of its own.

Austin is visiting Seoul for the third time as Minister of Defense and has met with both Lee and South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol.

Yoon suggested this month that his country consider acquiring its own nuclear weapons, the first time a sitting South Korean president has put forward the idea in decades.

However, the Yoon administration declined to comment, emphasizing that South Korea supports nuclear nonproliferation.

Meanwhile, the leader of North Korea, Kim Chen In, recently called for an “exponential” increase in his country’s nuclear arsenal, including the mass production of tactical nuclear weapons and the development of new missiles for nuclear counterattacks. (AFP)