South Korea restores military drills once reduced to help Trump – gets tough with North Korea, bolsters ties with US

South Korea will bring back joint military exercises with the US that had been scaled down or halted since about four years ago under former President Donald Trump to facilitate his nuclear negotiations with North Korea.

The government of President Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who took office in May on pledges of bolstering military ties with the US and taking a tough line with Pyongyang, will resume combined field-training drills with American troops, the Defence Ministry in Seoul said in a policy report Friday.

The two will also restore exercises that include training with aircraft carrier groups and amphibious vehicles. The sides will return to practising war scenarios in person, replacing training over the past three years that used computerised command-and-control simulations, it said.

The allied forces will conduct 11 joint field exercises in August and September, including a large-scale drill at the Korea Combat Training Centre, and change the name of the annual drill from Ulchi Freedom Guardian to Ulchi Freedom Shield, the military said.

Yoon warned on Friday that North Korea could soon ratchet up tensions with its seventh nuclear test, after firing off ballistic missiles at a record pace this year. Any display of the weapons in leader Kim Jong-un’s nuclear arsenal would serve as a reminder of the pressing security problems posed by Pyongyang that have simmered as Biden’s administration focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We believe North Korea is prepared to conduct a nuclear test any moment they decide to do so,” Yoon said, adding he has discussed the matter with the US.