Training scenarios to be adjusted as North threat evolves

Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup addresses a meeting of top military brass at the Defense Ministry in Yongsan District, central Seoul on Wednesday. [DEFENSE MINISTRY]

South Korea and the United States will implement training scenarios that account for advances in North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs in their field exercises next year, according to the South Korean defense ministry.

The ministry said that Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup discussed the new scenarios and other defense policy priorities at a Wednesday meeting with top military brass at the Defense Ministry in Yongsan District, central Seoul.

Joint training exercises by the South Korean and U.S. militaries next year will include the Ssangyong amphibious exercise and are expected to be at the same level as the Foal Eagle field training exercise, which was suspended in 2019 during a détente in inter-Korean tensions, according to the ministry.

The armed forces "have decided to expand and increase joint field training during allied exercises for the first half of next year, while deepening and developing procedures for theater-level exercises by crafting realistic training scenarios that reflect North Korean’s advancing nuclear and missile threats,” the ministry said in a press release.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his sister Kim Yo-jong have signaled in recent months that Pyongyang will move to develop solid-fuel ballistic missiles and deploy tactical nuclear weapons to frontline units.

Although the Defense Ministry press release did not specify details about the training scenarios, or what contingency plans they entailed, Lee emphasized that the United States would employ the full range of its military capabilities, including its nuclear deterrent, to ensure the security of South Korea.

But Lee also stressed that South Korea should take responsibility for leading a ground response to a North Korean attack.

“To ensure that we can respond sternly and perfectly to any North Korean provocation, I particularly emphasize the maintenance of a posture to respond immediately on the ground for a definite win in any combat,” the press release quoted Lee as saying.

Meanwhile, a defense ministry spokesman said Thursday that South Korea and the United States are mulling a large combined live-fire demonstration next year to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of their alliance.

“Next year, the allies mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance’s founding. For this occasion, we are weighing various ways to highlight our military’s stature and the South Korea-U.S. alliance’s overwhelming deterrence capabilities against North Korea,” Defense Ministry's spokesman Jeon Ha-gyu said at a regular press briefing, adding that a combined joint live-fire demonstration was one of the options being considered.

The exercise would be the first of its kind to be held in six years, with the last show of such firepower having taken place in Pocheon, Gyeonggi in April 2017, amid high tensions on the peninsula.

Large live-fire demonstrations typically involve thousands of troops, as well as artillery pieces and other formidable weapons systems, to highlight the allies’ combined firepower.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]