IMage U.S. and South Korea to proceed with joint military exercises, Ulchi-Freedom Guardian

U.S. and South Korea to proceed with joint military exercises, Ulchi-Freedom Guardian

August 17, 2017
2 mins read

BEIJING, LC
The United States and South Korea will proceed with joint military exercises next week, a U.S. military official said on Thursday. According to Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, the exercise is “a regularly scheduled, annual exercise and is the culmination of many months of planning.”

This goes against the wishes of China and North Korea, who assert that the exercises will increase tensions that have been building over the last several months. North Korea has been making progress in creating nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the testing of these weapons has sparked diplomatic tension.

Last week, President Donald Trump warned of “fire and fury”, if North Korea continued to issue “threats”. North Korea refused to back down, saying that it was considering firing missiles at the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

Annual military drills are scheduled to begin on Monday. These are the ‘Ulchi-Freedom Guardian’ drills, and have been occurring annually since 1976, and usually take place in August or September. Last year the exercise included around 50,000 South Koreans and 25,000 U.S. soldiers. The drills mostly focus on defending South Korea from a hypothetical North Korean attack.

China, North Korea’s ally and predominant trading partner, has urged the scraping of the drills in exchange for North Korea ceasing its nuclear program.

When responding to criticism that this proposal created a false equivalence between the U.S. and North Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said it was the most realistic and achievable solution.

“To ease the tense situation created by tit-for-tat escalations, to halt this vicious cycle, there is a need to put aside the dispute over who goes first and who goes second,” said Chunying.

However, U.S. military officials seemed not to share this perspective.

“My advice to our leadership is that we not dial back our exercises. The exercises are very important to maintaining the ability of the alliance to defend itself,” Joseph Dunford, chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in Beijing after meeting his Chinese counterparts. “As long as the threat in North Korea exists, we need to maintain a high state of readiness to respond to that threat”. General Dunford visited China to further military-to-military ties with the U.S.

Image Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping, BEIJING (Aug. 17, 2017)(DoD photo: Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro)
Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping, BEIJING (Aug. 17, 2017)(DoD photo: Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro)

Meanwhile, today Secretary of Defense James Mattis joined Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for a joint press conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera. The U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting stressed the importance of U.S.-Japan relations and military presence in the region. The U.S. and Japan are currently engaged in joint military exercises, dubbed Northern Viper 17.

SecDef Mattis commented, “the international community also recognizes that North Korea is a threat to Asia and to the world. Japan and the Republic of Korea are on the front line against the North Korean threat.” Mattis added, “any initiation of hostilities will be met with an effective and overwhelming response.”

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