The South Korean and US militaries were to begin massive live-fire drills near the border with North Korea yesterday, despite the North’s warning that it would not tolerate what it calls a hostile invasion rehearsal on its doorstep.
Yesterday’s drills, the first of the allies’ five rounds of firing exercises until the middle of next month, mark 70 years since the establishment of the military alliance between Seoul and Washington.
North Korea has typically reacted to such major South Korean-US exercises with missile and other weapons tests.
Photo: AFP
Since the start of last year, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 missiles, but none since it fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in the middle of last month.
North Korea has said its tests were in response to the expanded military drills between the US and South Korea, but observers have said the North aims to advance its weapons development to wrest concessions from its rivals in eventual diplomacy.
The US-South Korean firing exercises, called “combined annihilation firepower drills,” would be the biggest of their kind.
The drills have been held 11 times since they began in 1977, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said.
This year’s drills are to involve advanced stealth fighter jets, attack helicopters, tanks and multiple rocket launch systems from South Korea and the US, the ministry said.
It was not immediately known how many troops would take part in the drills, but previous exercises in 2017 — the most recent ones before this year — drew about 2,000 soldiers and 250 weapons assets from both countries.
An earlier ministry statement said that the drills are meant to enhance the allies’ combined operational performance capabilities.
South Korea and the US would seek to establish “the overwhelming deterrence and response capabilities” to cope with North Korean nuclear and missile threats, it said.
On Friday last week, the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) called the drills “a typical North Korea-targeted war rehearsal.”
It said North Korea “cannot but take a more serious note of the fact that” the drills would be held in an area a few kilometers from its frontier.
The KCNA said the US and South Korea would face unspecified “corresponding responses” over their series of large-scale, provocative drills.
Earlier this year, the South Korean and US militaries conducted their biggest field exercises in five years.
The US sent the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and nuclear-capable bombers for joint exercises with South Korea.
North Korea could use the South Korea-US drills as a pretext to resume testing activities to attain its stated goal of modernizing its weapons arsenals, Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy analyst Moon Seong-mook said.
Domestic issues such as North Korea’s push to increase agricultural production amid the rice-planting season could still affect its decision on weapons tests, he said.
The Central Weather Bureau could issue a sea alert for Super Typhoon Mawar, as it is forecast to turn north and come closest to Taiwan from Tuesday to Wednesday next week. Mawar was downgraded from a super typhoon to a typhoon after sweeping across Guam on Wednesday night, knocking down trees and leaving much of the US territory without power. Many residents of Guam yesterday remained without power and utilities after Mawar tore through the remote US Pacific territory the previous night, ripping roofs off homes, flipping vehicles and shredding trees. There were no immediate reports of deaths and injuries, but the
ADJUSTMENTS: Over the next five years, every year except 2026 would have only one makeup workday to compensate for national holidays, the government said The Executive Yuan (EY) yesterday announced the official workday calendar for next year, which includes one makeup day and four holidays with more than three days off. It also announced new standards for makeup days in the event of consecutive holidays. The Directorate-General of Personnel Administration cited the importance of the Lunar New Year and Tomb Sweeping holidays to the public as its reason to mandate flexible off-days. The 115 total off-days dovetail with dates that international financial markets are closed, minimizing the effects of state holidays on stock and currency exchange trading, it said. Over the next five years, only the calendar for
EMBRACE CHANGE: Jensen Huang told NTU graduates that instead of worrying about AI itself, they should worry that people with expertise in AI would be taking their jobs Artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining the computer industry, and Taiwanese companies could play a major role in replacing the world’s traditional computers as they are the foundation of the industry, Nvidia Corp cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said in Taipei yesterday. Huang made the remarks while giving the keynote speech at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) commencement ceremony. AI has created immense opportunities, and versatile companies can be expected to take advantage and boost their position, while less flexible firms would perish, he said. “In every way, this is a rebirth of the computer industry and a golden opportunity for the companies of
‘ARCHAIC’: An interpretation of a law that considered Chinese as Taiwanese nationals was scrapped after the death of a Chinese in Kaohsiung led to state reparations An administrative mandate to consider Chinese as Taiwanese citizens was outdated, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, a day after the Executive Yuan ordered that agencies disregard the 30-year-old interpretation. Chen made the remarks at an event held by the Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei following changes to the administrative mandate concerning the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例). The previous interpretation of the law was archaic and contrary to the workings of laws and regulations, he said, adding that the order was made to avoid unnecessary problems created by the mandate. The Mainland
RSS