POCHEON, South Korea, May 25 — South Korea and the United States will hold the largest live-fire exercise in their history in the northern border city on Thursday to mark the 70th anniversary of their partnership. strengthen deterrence in the face of growing military threats from North Korea.
Joint live fire exercise, the first type in six years will take place at the Seungjin Shooting Training Range, also known as Night Vision, in Pocheon, 52 kilometers north of Seoul, South Korean officials said.
The exercise comes at a time when cross-border tensions remain high over the North’s efforts to develop looming weapon systems, such as nuclear attack submarines and solid-fuel rockets, which critics say are in the process of launching a space launch vehicle.
The exercise is expected to display the formidable fire power of the allies, represented by their major armed systems such as F-35A radar-evading fighters, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, K-2 main battle tank and several rocket-launched systems. The US-X breaks off the attack and the F 16 fighters deploy.
According to observers, it could provoke an angry reaction from Pyongyang. Last week, North Korean media called the “war exercise” against “nuclear power” “pure rubbish”.
Members plan to hold the exercise four times next month – on June 2, 7, 12 and 15.
The last such exercise took place in 2017 and involved 48 units and more than 2,000 Korean and US soldiers.
