US, South Korea start military exercises despite threats from Kim Jong-un regime

South Korea and the United States began annual joint military exercises on Monday, despite North Korea’s recent threat to trigger a “major security crisis.” for your celebration.

The maneuvers, They will last for nine days, are based on computer simulations and not field exercises, and are defensive in nature, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said. (JCS) in a press release.

The number of participating troops will be limited by covid-19 and its scale will therefore be less than that of the other maneuvers in March.

In several messages posted last week, The North Korean regime accused the allies of “wasting” the opportunity for a rapprochement by maintaining maneuvers despite their efforts at dialogue and again cut off their direct communication with Seoul, which reactivated on July 28 after cutting it a year ago.

Seoul and Washington hold regular military exercises, mostly in the spring and summer, exercises Pyongyang has been protesting against for decades, seeing them as a mock invasion of their territory and, therefore, a threat to their sovereignty.

The size of these exercises has been reduced in recent years to facilitate stalled talks to persuade North Korea to abandon nuclear and missile programs in return for sanctions relief, but Pyongyang has demanded that the exercises cease altogether. .

The United States maintains approximately 28,500 troops in South Korea following the Korean War (1950-1953), the civil conflict that divided the peninsula and ended in an armistice that was never replaced by a peace treaty, which keeps the territory technically at war.

North Korea left this Thursday not answering calls from the South for the third consecutive day as a sign of their unease at the decision of Seoul and Washington to continue their summer military exercises.

The North did not take the calls made through inter-Korean liaison lines and military communication lines, as confirmed at Efe spokesperson for the Unification and Defense ministries, the two portfolios responsible respectively for the operation of these channels.

Pyongyang stopped responding to calls from Seoul on Aug. 10, just two weeks after communications between the two countries resumed. telematics at the request of the communist regime.

The sister of the North Korean leader, Kim Yo-jong, indicted against South Korea and the United States for failing to cancel joint military exercises after warning that its celebration would not contribute to fostering dialogue in the peninsula.

“The armies of the United States and South Korea have eagerly entered into joint military exercises, further accelerating the situation of instability despite the unanimous denunciation and rejection at home and abroad.”Kim wrote in a statement released by the state agency KCNA.

Kim herself warned that holding joint summer exercises could jeopardize progress in inter-Korean relations after the two neighbors resumed telematic communications at Pyongyang’s request on July 27.

(With information from EFE)

KEEP READING: