[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] South Korea and the US Conduct Historic 'Annihilation Training' Today

Conducted Over 5 Sessions at Promotion Training Ground
Exact Reenactment of Punishing and Annihilating the North

From the 25th, South Korea and the United States will conduct the largest-ever combined and joint firepower annihilation exercises at the Seungjin Training Ground in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the ROK-US alliance and the 75th anniversary of the founding of the armed forces this year. The exercises will be held a total of five times on the 25th, and on the 2nd, 7th, 12th, and 15th of next month.

Under the theme of "Demonstrating the overwhelming advanced military capabilities of the ROK-US alliance to achieve peace through strength," the combined and joint forces of South Korea and the United States plan to simulate the process of punishing and annihilating North Korea with minimal casualties in the shortest time possible in the event of provocations.

To this end, helicopters, fighter jets, tanks, armored vehicles, and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) from both countries’ militaries will conduct live-fire and maneuver firepower demonstration exercises. It is also reported that South Korea’s military will conduct drone training.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The military authorities have prepared post-ceremony events to showcase recently exported "K-defense" weapon systems and newly commissioned (or planned) equipment from both the South Korean and U.S. militaries, as well as pre-ceremony events such as high-altitude parachute training. The exercise will be attended not only by key government and military officials, members of the National Assembly’s Defense Committee, ROK-US soldiers, media, and domestic and international defense industry personnel but also by the general public as observers. Approximately 300 citizens per session, totaling around 1,500 people, were selected through prior applications to participate as observers.

The militaries of South Korea and the United States have conducted a total of 11 firepower annihilation exercises, both large and small, since 1977. Notably, the 2015 exercise was presided over by then-President Park Geun-hye, and the 2017 exercise was led by then-Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who was acting president at the time, under the purpose of "demonstrating the national defense will of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces."

Earlier, on the 19th, North Korean media criticized the upcoming ROK-US combined and joint firepower annihilation exercises in an editorial, calling them "a continuation and expansion of the anti-Republic of Korea (anti-North) war drills conducted by hostile forces against the DPRK, including South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, since the beginning of the year." The editorial listed the ROK-US and ROK-US-Japan joint military exercises, which have increased in intensity and frequency this year, and sharply criticized the participating forces.