Seoul and Washington ready for the largest ever "war games"

The two governments announced ‘Key Resolve/Foal Eagle’ joint military exercises. The annual event will be unprecedented this year. Some 15,000 US troops with nuclear hardware will join almost 300,000 South Korean troops. North Korea warns against “provocations”.

Seoul (AsiaNews) – The annual South Korea-US joint exercises will be the largest ever in terms of both "quality and quantity," South Korean Defence Minister Han Min-koo told lawmakers.

Joint South Korea-US war games have been a regular feature since the end of the Korean War (1953). North Korea always uses them to protest what it calls an “act of war”. The exercises however fall within the jurisdiction of the United Nations Command structure.

The war games are usually held in March and are divided into two phases. The first one, ‘Key Resolve,’ ​​lasts 12 days and is almost all related to cyber terrorism. The second, ‘Foal Eagle,’ lasts eight weeks and involves the regular forces.

This year, the scale of the operation could require an extension of a few days to the second phase.

Twice as many US troops and double the equipment will be participating; that is about 15,000 US troops, plus hardware like a combat aviation brigade, a Marine mobile brigade, an aircraft carrier fleet, a nuclear-powered submarine fleet, and aerial refuelling tankers.

On the Korean side, the troop numbers will be greater by half than usual at 290,000 personnel, including special operations forces, Army corps in the front-line areas, and Army divisions in the rear areas.

As expected, North Korea reacted harshly to the announcement. An official government statement called on Seoul to stop its “provocations" and warned of "serious retaliation” for those involved.

• south korea
• north
• united states
• war games
• military exercises