South Korea’s Hoguk military exercises to conclude
South Korea will conclude its annual Hoguk field training exercise today.
The South Korean army, navy, air force and marine corps took part in the 12-day drills to increase battlefield readiness amid a spate of North Korean provocations this month. The military exercises follow bilateral naval drills off the coast of Busan, South Korea involving the American supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan.
Tensions flared this month with the two Koreas exchanging warning shots across the border after North Korea threatened the use of tactical nuclear warheads against the South. North Korea also launched an Intermediate-range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) over Japan for the first time in five years in apparent preparations for its seventh nuclear test.
The re-escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula has once again brought up the question of nuclear deployment in South Korea. However, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol recently re-affirmed the country’s rejection of a NATO-style weapons sharing agreement with the US or the deployment of US tactical nuclear weapons, over fears this could legitimize North Korean nuclear warheads. In the short-to-medium term, expect the US and South Korea to enhance combat readiness through bilateral military exercises and trilateral naval drills with Japan.
