South Korea-US Joint Exercise Conducted in Two Phases Until the 29th
Applying UFS Scenarios Including Cyber Attacks
The second half of this year's South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise, 'Ulchi Freedom Shield' (UFS), will be officially conducted from the 19th. Close attention is also being paid to the possibility of provocations by North Korea during this UFS period.
According to the South Korea-U.S. military authorities on the 12th, this UFS will be conducted in two phases from the 19th to the 29th of this month. The first phase will be held from the 19th to the 23rd in conjunction with the government exercise (Ulchi Exercise), and the second phase will be conducted solely by the military from the 26th to the 29th. Prior to this, a four-day crisis management exercise (CMX), which serves as a preliminary exercise for UFS, will be conducted at the military level from the 13th to the 16th of this month.
The South Korea-U.S. military authorities have decided to reflect realistic threats in this UFS scenario, including the increasing missile threats from North Korea, GPS signal jamming and cyberattacks, threats from ground, sea, and air domains, and recent patterns of warfare. Our military plans to support government ministries' wartime preparedness exercises and actual training for cyberattack and terrorism response, as well as public safety support, to enhance the government's all-out national mobilization capability to protect the lives and safety of the people.
During the first phase, which involves wartime preparedness exercises at the government ministry level, defensive training assuming the use of North Korea's nuclear weapons will also be conducted. In this regard, the 'North Korean Nuclear Response Civil Protection Headquarters' will be operated under the Prime Minister's chairmanship, and some units of our military will support this training. Prior to this, from the 30th of last month for three days, the U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, 'Camp Humphreys,' hosted the first-ever nuclear-conventional integrated tabletop exercise (CNI TTX) called 'Iron Mace 2024,' assuming the use of North Korea's nuclear weapons, where U.S. nuclear forces and our conventional forces jointly defended and counterattacked.
During the second phase, various joint field training exercises (FTX), including the Ssangyong joint amphibious landing exercise, as well as live-fire exercises in ground, sea, and air domains, will be conducted. Multi-domain operations utilizing various assets, focusing on countering North Korea's weapons of mass destruction (WMD), will also take place. Notably, during this UFS period, U.S. strategic assets will be deployed on the Korean Peninsula to conduct joint training with our forces. Additionally, the command and control headquarters of the Strategic Command, which is scheduled to be established in October to integrate the strategic capabilities of our military, will be organized during this UFS period, and a final evaluation of its mission performance is expected.
United Nations member states will participate in this UFS, and the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission will observe compliance with the armistice agreement. However, Germany, which joined the United Nations as a member state on the 2nd, will not participate in this UFS immediately.
Meanwhile, the South Korea-U.S. military authorities are closely monitoring the possibility of provocations by North Korea during this UFS period, as North Korea has repeatedly opposed the joint exercises, claiming they are 'war exercises for invading the North.' On May 16, North Korea threatened the UFS, stating, "Due to the created situation and its nature, it is already called a 'nuclear attack exercise,'" and warned, "The disastrous consequences should be considered first."
During last year's UFS in August, North Korea conducted a full military command exercise on August 28 aimed at 'complete control of the southern half of the territory' and tactical nuclear attack exercises on August 30 and September 2.
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