US, South Korea begin joint military exercise on tense Korean Peninsula

19 Nisan 2022

25 Less than a minute

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American and South Korean forces kicked off their annual springtime joint military exercise on Monday amid growing concerns over a potential nuclear weapons test by North Korea.

The drills will run for nine days and will be entirely computer simulated, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message sent to reporters on Sunday. No field maneuvers will be involved.

“This exercise will serve as an opportunity to improve the combined operational capability of U.S. and South Korean soldiers and further solidify their combined defense posture,” the JCS message said.

North Korea — which routinely condemns the combined exercises as rehearsals for an invasion — conducted its latest missile test on Saturday, launching what it called a “new-type tactical guided weapon system” that can be used with nuclear warheads.

The new missile showed “great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the frontline long-range artillery units and enhancing the efficiency in the operation of tactical nukes,” state-run Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday.

The South Korean military said that it had detected two projectiles fired from North Korea into the sea on Saturday evening. They traveled 68 miles at speed of Mach 4.0 and reached an altitude of 15 miles, the JCS said in a text message to reporters.

Images of the missiles released by North Korea showed a resemblance to the country’s KN-23, analysts said, a highly maneuverable short-range ballistic missile similar to Russia’s Iskander.

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