{"id":76583,"date":"2023-05-25T18:23:17","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T18:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/05\/25\/us-south-korea-troops-hold-large-live-fire-drills\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:25:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:25:44","slug":"us-south-korea-troops-hold-large-live-fire-drills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/05\/25\/us-south-korea-troops-hold-large-live-fire-drills\/","title":{"rendered":"US, South Korea troops hold large live-fire drills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 The South Korean and U.S. militaries conducted large live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, despite the North\u2019s warning that it won\u2019t tolerate what it calls an invasion rehearsal on its doorstep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drills, the first of five rounds of live-fire exercises through mid-June, mark 70 years since the establishment of the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. North Korea typically reacts to such major South Korean-U.S. exercises<\/a> with missile and other weapons tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched<\/a> more than 100 missiles, but none since it fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile<\/a> in mid-April. It says the tests are a response to expanded military drills between the U.S. and South Korea, but observers say North Korea aims to advance its weapons development and then wrest greater concessions from its rivals in eventual diplomacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S.-South Korean firing exercises, called \u201cCombined annihilation firepower drills,\u201d are the biggest of their kind. The drills have been held 11 times since they began in 1977, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drills involved 2,500 troops and 610 weapons systems such as fighter jets, attack helicopters, drones, tanks and artillery from South Korea and the United States, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry. The most recent exercises in 2017 drew about 2,000 soldiers and 250 weapons assets from both countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drills simulated artillery and aerial strikes on front-line North Korean military facilities in response to an attack. The troops later practiced precision-guided attacks on simulated targets in the rear areas to \u201ccompletely annihilate\u201d North Korean military threats, according to a ministry statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The South Korean army’s drones fly during South Korea-U.S. joint military drills at Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, South Korea, Thursday, May 25, 2023. (Ahn Young-joon\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It said South Korea will seek to establish \u201cpeace through overwhelming strengthen\u201d to counter North Korean threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Korea didn\u2019t immediately respond to the start of the drills. Last Friday, its state media called the drills \u201ca typical North Korea-targeted war rehearsal,\u201d saying it \u201ccannot but take a more serious note of the fact\u201d that the exercises are held a few kilometers (miles) from its frontier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North\u2019s Korean Central News Agency said the U.S. and South Korea would face unspecified consequences over \u201ctheir madcap nuclear war racket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, the South Korean and U.S. militaries conducted their biggest field exercises in five years<\/a>. The U.S. also sent the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier<\/a> and nuclear-capable bombers for joint exercises with South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\t