Seoul (EFE).- The armies of South Korea and the United States today began their great spring military maneuvers at a time marked by the enormous tension on the peninsula and the North Korean threat to provide “an unprecedented response” to these exercises.
The Freedom Shield maneuvers, based on computer simulations that contemplate scenarios in which North Korea attacks the south of the peninsula, started today and will last 11 days, a spokesman for the South Korean National Ministry of Defense confirmed to EFE.
For the first time, the exercises will take place without a weekend break, marking the longest set of command post maneuvers ever conducted by the Allies.
Framed in Freedom shield, the South Korean and US armies will carry out around twenty exercises on the ground under the common name Warrior shield that have “recovered the scale of Foal eagle”.
The Foal Eagle military drills were regular allied ground exercises that were suspended in 2019 to try to improve the atmosphere during disarmament talks with the North Korean regime, which are currently at a standstill.
A US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is expected to take part in the exercises in the coming days.
On the eve of the allied drills, North Korea launched two cruise missiles from a submarine after firing a salvo of at least six short-range ballistic missiles on Friday.
Pyongyang usually considers these maneuvers as a test to invade its territory and on this occasion it has promised to give “an unprecedented response”.
The last time the allies carried out maneuvers of this magnitude last November, North Korea fired in response more than 30 missiles of different types – one of them with an intercontinental range – in just three days.
The peninsula is experiencing a historic level of tension after 2022 in which Pyongyang, which has rejected offers to return to dialogue, carried out a record number of weapons tests and in which the allies once again carried out large maneuvers and deployed strategic assets such as nuclear powered aircraft carriers or bombers.
Given the apparent lack of will to promote détente on both sides, experts have pointed out the growing danger of a miscalculation that could have fatal consequences.
Pyongyang announces that it launched strategic cruise missiles from a submarine
North Korean state media announced today, for its part, that the regime fired two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine on Sunday.
The weapons test took place “at dawn” on Sunday and was carried out from Kyongpho Bay, in the province of South Hamgyong (northeast of the country), according to the KCNA agency.