ROK-U.S. News

SEOUL, March 14 (Yonhap) — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) toward the East Sea on Tuesday, Seoul’s military said, a day after South Korea and the United States kicked off a regular military exercise.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the Jangyon area in South Hwanghae Province between 7:41 a.m. and 7:51 a.m., and they flew some 620 kilometers.

The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are conducting a comprehensive analysis of the specifics of the missiles, according to the JCS.

“We strongly condemn the North’s series of ballistic missile launches as an act of significant provocation that harms peace and stability not only on the Korean Peninsula, but also in the international community, and a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

It also urged the North to immediately stop such launches.

“While normally conducting the combined exercise under the firm combined defense posture, our military will track and monitor North Korean movements to see if there is a possibility of additional provocations,” the JCS said.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said that the North’s missile launches highlight the “destabilizing” impact of the North’s “unlawful” weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.

“The U.S. commitments to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remain ironclad,” the command said in a press release, referring to South Korea by its official name.

The latest launch came after the North fired what it claimed to be two “strategic cruise missiles” from a submarine Sunday and conducted a “fire assault drill” three days earlier.

On Monday, Seoul and Washington began their 11-day Freedom Shield exercise, which is to proceed with the concurrent field training exercise, called the Warrior Shield.

Pyongyang has decried the exercises as a rehearsal for a war of aggression against it and threatened to take “overwhelming” action against military activities by the allies.

Its hardening rhetoric has stoked concerns that the reclusive regime could continue to ratchet up tensions with more powerful provocations, such as the launch of a solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and a nuclear test.

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SEOUL, March 14 (Yonhap) — U.S. Marines based in the United States and Japan are taking part in ongoing annual combined drills with South Korea on the Korean Peninsula, according to the Indo-Pacific Command on Tuesday.

Marines from the III Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) in Okinawa, and the 1st Marine Division stationed in California “joined their ROK counterparts” for the Freedom Shield (FS) exercise, it said. ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, which is South Korea’s official name.

The U.S. Marines has its base, Camp Mujuk, in Pohang, 272 kilometers southeast of Seoul. “Mujuk” means unbeatable in Korean.

The allies kicked off the FS computer-simulated command post training Monday for an 11-day run with a plan to stage some 20 field drills, including the Ssangyong (double dragon) amphibious practice, under the Warrior Shield program.

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SEOUL, March 13 (Yonhap) — South Korea and the United States kicked off a regular combined military exercise Monday amid heightened tensions caused by North Korea’s missile tests and hardening rhetoric against the allies.

The computer simulation-based Freedom Shield (FS) exercise began its 11-day run under “realistic” scenarios reflective of the North’s evolving nuclear and missile threats, Seoul officials said. It is to proceed with the concurrent field training exercise, called the Warrior Shield.

The springtime exercise got under way at midnight after the recalcitrant regime fired what it claimed to be two “strategic cruise missiles” from a submarine on Sunday and conducted a “fire assault drill” three days earlier.

The FS is to continue without a weekend break, marking the allies’ lengthiest command post exercise. It is known to involve wartime procedures to repel potential North Korean attacks and conduct a stabilization campaign in the North.

“The combined exercise is a defensive one based on a combined operational plan designed to defend the ROK from potential North Korean aggression,” the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. ROK stands for the South’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

Alongside the FS, the allies plan to conduct some 20 field drills, including the Ssangyong (double dragon) amphibious exercise, under the collective name of the Warrior Shield. They represented a return to the scale of the Foal Eagle field exercise suspended in 2019 under the preceding Moon Jae-in administration keen on inter-Korean rapprochement.

On the first day of the allied exercise, a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft, called BD-700 N799JR, known as the Airborne Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare System, flew over South Korea, according to a tweet by the aviation tracker Aircraft Spots. The sortie is viewed as a move to keep close tabs on North Korean military movements.

The U.S. military is expected to send the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier late this month for combined maritime drills with the South Korean Navy in connection with the FS, officials said.

On Sunday, North Korea launched two “strategic cruise missiles” from a submarine, according to its state media, a move seen as a protest against the allies’ practice. Pyongyang has threatened to take “overwhelming” measures in response to it.

Meanwhile, the South Korean Air Force kicked off its own field training exercise, which includes daytime and nighttime sorties, and contingency procedures on the timely supply of ammunition, the emergency restoration of damaged airstrips and responses to terrorist attacks using chemical, biological and radioactive weapons, according to the armed service.

The South and the U.S. conduct two major combined command post exercises each year to practice crisis management and war execution procedures — one in the spring and the other in the summer. The summertime exercise, called the Ulchi Freedom Shield, includes the South Korean government’s Ulchi civil defense drills.

Pyongyang has long decried these exercises as a rehearsal for a war of invasion against it.

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SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) — South Korea and the United States staged combined air drills, involving at least one U.S. nuclear-capable B-52H strategic bomber, sources said Monday, in the latest show of America’s military might against North Korea’s evolving military threats.

The bomber’s deployment came amid concerns that Pyongyang could engage in provocations in response to the allies’ Freedom Shield exercise set to take place from March 13-23.

The U.S. previously deployed the B-52H bomber to the peninsula in December last year.

Meanwhile, the allies’ Air Forces also kicked off this year’s first Buddy Wing exercise at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometers south of Seoul, on Monday, according to Seoul officials.

The regular squadron-level drills, designed to enhance wartime operation capabilities and teamwork, involves some 10 aircraft, including the South’s F-15K fighter jet and the U.S.’ A-10 attack aircraft, and will run until Friday.

The allies plan to hold the Buddy Wing exercise nine times this year, it added.

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By Song Sang-ho

SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Yonhap) — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) toward the East Sea on Monday, Seoul’s military said, a day after South Korea and the United States staged joint air drills, involving B-1B bombers, in response to the North’s long-range missile launch.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the Sukchon area in South Pyongan Province between 7 a.m. and 7:11 a.m., and that the missiles flew some 390 kilometers and 340 km, respectively.

Hours after the launch, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the artillery unit of the Korean People’s Army fired two shots from the 600-mm multiple rocket launcher during firing drills, and that they flew 395 km and 337 km, respectively.

The weapon system is a “tactical nuclear attack means boasting of the great might powerful enough to assign only one multiple rocket launcher with four shells so as to destroy an enemy operational airfield,” the KCNA said in an English-language report.

In a ceremony to “present” the 600-mm rocket launcher at a key party meeting in late December, the country’s leader Kim Jong-un called it an “offensive weapon” capable of carrying tactical nuclear warheads that could put all of South Korea within its range.

Some observers here noted that given their flight distance, the rockets fired Monday can reach a South Korean air base in Cheongju known to be home to the South’s F-35A stealth fighters. Cheongju is located 112 km south of Seoul.

The KCNA took issue with the allies’ stated plan to increase the “frequency and intensity of deploying U.S. strategic assets” to Korea.

The South’s military “strongly” condemned the North’s latest missile launches as an act of “significant provocation” that harms peace and stability not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in the international community.

It also called the provocation a “clear” violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and urged the North to immediately stop such provocative acts.

“Our military will ensure a firm response posture based on security cooperation among the South, the United States and Japan, and maintain a firm readiness posture based on capabilities to respond overwhelmingly to any North Korean provocations,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

It is rare for the South Korean military to mention security cooperation with Japan in a press message on a North Korean missile launch — a sign of Seoul’s move to strengthen bilateral defense ties in the face of growing North Korean threats.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command reiterated America’s “ironclad” security commitments to the South and Japan.

“The missile launches highlight the destabilizing impact of the DPRK’s unlawful (weapons of mass destruction) and ballistic missile programs,” the command said in a release, referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

On Sunday, the allies carried out the air drills, involving the U.S. bombers and South Korean F-35A stealth jets, as the North launched what it claimed to be a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the previous day.

Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, issued another sharp-tongued threat of “corresponding” actions against the allies’ military drills.

“The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the U.S.,” she said in an English-language statement carried by the KCNA.

In the statement, she also expressed displeasure over South Korean experts having raised questions over the North’s ability to conduct a “surprise” ICBM launch, its atmospheric reentry technology and other ICBM-related capabilities.

“We have possessed satisfactory technology and capability and, now will focus on increasing the quantity of their force,” she said. “They had better rack their brains to make measures to defend themselves instead of doubting or worrying about other’s technology.”

She added the North is “carefully” examining the impact of the deployment of U.S. strategic assets on its security, vowing to “take corresponding counteraction” if the move is judged to pose any “direct or indirect” threat to the North.

The allies are scheduled to hold a tabletop military exercise against North Korean nuclear threats this week and their springtime Freedom Shield exercise next month.

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By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (Yonhap) — The United States considers and is dealing with North Korea issues with the same level of urgency as all other challenges facing the country and its allies, a state department spokesperson said Wednesday.

The spokesperson, Ned Price, insisted the U.S. simply did not have the “luxury of being able to prioritize” the challenges.

“All of these issues are important,” Price told a daily press briefing.

“All of these same issues are made of the same plot. All of these challenges that we face, very different challenges that we face from the PRC (People’s Republic of China), from Iran, from Russia, from the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), in some ways, this all boils down to the rules-based order,” added Price, referring to China and North Korea by their official names.

The department spokesperson was reacting to a question whether the U.S. takes the threat posed by North Korea as serious as other challenges, given that President Joe Biden had failed to mention the North Korea issue in his State of the Union Address delivered last week.

“Whether it’s Russia’s unprovoked, brutal aggression against Ukraine, whether it is the PRC’s attempts to change or undermine the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, whether it is Iran’s provision of support to malign actors that in turn destabilize the Middle East or whether it’s the DPRK’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs, all of these, in different ways, pose a challenge to the rules-based order,” said Price.

“The United States and countries around the world are standing up for that rules-based order. It’s what we are doing in Ukraine. It’s what we are doing in the context of the DPRK,” he added.

When asked about Japan’s proposed release of potentially radiation-contaminated water from its Fukushima nuclear power plant, the department spokesperson said Tokyo has been transparent in its decision-making process.

“We strongly support the nuclear safety and security standards championed by the International Atomic Energy Agency or the IAEA, and we welcome Japan’s continued openness and close coordination with the international community as Japan prepares to disperse the treated water in a manner that appears to be in line with the internationally accepted nuclear safety standards,” he said.

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(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 14-17)
By Kim Soo-yeon and Song Sang-ho

SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) — North Korea has staged a massive military parade in Pyongyang to mark the 75th founding anniversary of its armed forces, its state media confirmed Thursday, describing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) on display as representing the country’s “maximum nuclear attack capabilities.”

Its leader Kim Jong-un attended the nighttime event, held Wednesday, along with his wife, Ri Sol-ju, and apparent second child, Ju-ae, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). There has been no report on whether he delivered a public speech.

Flanked by top military and party officials, Kim took to the reviewing stand to watch the parade held in Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate the Korean People’s Army (KPA) anniversary.

Clad in a long black coat and wearing a felt hat, Kim saluted back, photos released by the KCNA showed. His outfit was reminiscent of those of the country’s late founder, Kim Il-sung, who is known as his role model.

In particular, the KCNA reported a column of ICBMs rolled through the square, demonstrating the regime’s “revolutionary” development of military power and its “maximum” nuclear attack capability.

Also appearing at the parade were columns of “tactical” missiles and long-range cruise missiles, it added.

The North, moreover, presented “tactical nuclear units” in a demonstration of its “war deterrence and counterstrike capabilities.”

Photos of the parade showed Hwasong-17 ICBMs, as well as what is presumed to be a new ICBM mounted on a transporter erector launcher (TEL) with 18 wheels.

The specifics of the new missile remains unknown, but its presence raised speculation that it could be a solid-propellant missile that the North has been striving to secure.

In December last year, the North claimed to have successfully conducted a test of a “high-thrust solid-fuel” rocket motor to develop a “new-type strategic weapon” — a move that reinforced speculation about its push for a solid-fuel ICBM.

If deployed, a solid-propellant ICBM could pose a significant threat to the U.S. mainland given that it can enable a surprise attack as it takes less preparation time to launch than a liquid-fuel one, which requires time-consuming pre-launch procedures like the injection of fuel.

The parade also featured a range of missiles and artillery pieces that can target South Korea.

They included “super-large” multiple rocket launchers and 152 mm-caliber self-propelled howitzers, as well as the KN-23 missile modeled after Russia’s Iskander ballistic missile.

Later in the day, the North’s Korean Central Television aired recorded footage of the parade.

Kim’s daughter Ju-ae was seen walking close to the leader on the reviewing stand, adding to a debate over whether she could be groomed as Kim’s successor.

Ju-ae was first exposed to the public eye in November last year, as the North’s state media released photos showing her and the leader attending the test-firing of a Hwasong-17 ICBM.

Some observers have dismissed the possibility of Ju-ae having any potential to become a hereditary successor, given the North’s patriarchal society and the apparent existence of Kim’s eldest son.

The secretive regime has ramped up efforts to advance its weapons program in defiance of multiple U.N. sanctions on the North.

At a party meeting late last year, Kim Jong-un called for an “exponential” increase in its nuclear arsenal, raising the need to mass-produce tactical nuclear weapons apparently targeting the South and to develop a new ICBM.

The North fired around 70 ballistic missiles, including eight ICBMs, last year alone, the most in a single year. Those ICBMs included presumed Hwasong-17 missiles.

Since Kim took power following his father’s death in late 2011, his regime has staged 13 military parades, including the latest one.

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By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) — The United States is closely watching North Korea and its widely anticipated military parade, a state department spokesperson said Monday, while also highlighting U.S. commitment to the security of South Korea.

The department spokesperson, Ned Price, noted the military parades are have more “propaganda value” than any material value to North Korea.

“These are always exercises that we watch,” Price told a daily press briefing.

Pyongyang was earlier reported to be preparing for a massive military parade to be held this week, which will mark the 75th anniversary of the foundation of its armed forces.

The North has a history of using military parades to mark crucial national anniversaries, while showcasing its latest weapons systems to underscore its military presence in the region.

“I think it is almost certainly the case that these have more messaging and propaganda value than any material value to the DPRK,” said Price, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“We are, of course, going to be watching as we always do, but more so, we are investing in our alliances and our partnerships in the region and well beyond,” he added.

The department spokesperson also stressed U.S. commitment to the security of South Korea and Japan, while calling North Korea one of the most serious challenges facing the U.S. and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region.

He said State Secretary Antony Blinken and his South Korean counterpart, Park Jin, had a wide ranging discussion on challenges and opportunities facing their countries in the region when they met here last week.

“At the top of that list of challenges is the DPRK,” said Price.

“It is why we are committed, on an ironclad basis, to the security of our ROK allies, to the security of our Japanese allies … not just in the context of the DPRK and its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons program, but across the range of challenges and opportunities that our three countries, that our alliance faces,” he added.

ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea’s official name.

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