Source: CCTV Military
South Korean and U.S. militaries began Aug. 16
Start a 4-day crisis management exercise
Prepare for the ROK-US joint military exercises in the second half of the year
22 August to 1 September
The ROK and U.S. militaries will be officially launched
"Eulji Freedom Shield" joint military exercise
This has sparked anti-American rallies in many parts of South Korea
People took to the streets in protest
Joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises
South Korean media said it was "quite aggressive"
South Korea's Defense Ministry said the upcoming joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States is a routine annual defensive exercise, and this time it will use the new name "Eulji Freedom Shield" instead. During the joint military exercise, the ROK and the United States will comprehensively implement government exercises and military exercises to improve the country's overall combat capability. As a preparatory exercise for the joint military exercise, the two militaries launched a four-day crisis management exercise on August 16.
Yonhap News Agency reported that the joint military exercise will not only restore the scale of the exercise that was reduced by the previous South Korean government, but also use the concept of "national total war" to implement theater-level exercises. South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo pointed out that "all-out national war" means that all available resources and means can be used to fight.
It is reported that the joint military exercise is divided into two stages, the first phase of repulsion and defense and the second phase of counterattack. During the exercise, emphasis will be placed on the joint field maneuver training with the participation of various echelons and services, and an assessment of the comprehensive combat capability of the future ROK-US Joint Command will be conducted in accordance with the "plan for conditional transfer of wartime operational command."
South Korean media pointed out that the exercise with the concept of all-out war carried out against the background of the emergency on the Korean Peninsula and expanded the scale of the actual mobile exercise implied that the exercise would be quite aggressive.
South Koreans hold anti-American rallies
Demanded that the exercises be stopped and the US troops withdrawn
For this joint military exercise, South Korean public opinion believes that the move of South Korea and the United States is likely to drag the Korean Peninsula into turmoil again.
The South Korean people also strongly oppose the JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE between South Korea and the United States. On the 13th, anti-American and anti-war rallies broke out in the center of Seoul on the same day. The rallies demanded the suspension of the joint SOUTH Korea-U.S. military exercises and demanded that "the ROK-U.S. alliance be dissolved and U.S. troops stationed in South Korea withdrawn." It is estimated that at least 6,000 people attended the rally that day. In addition, anti-US rallies also broke out in busan, Pyeongtaek, Gunsan and other US military bases.
According to a South Korean media report on the 16th, the "Unified Vanguard," a subordinate organization of the South Korean National Democratic Labor Union General Alliance, recently held successive rallies at US military bases in various parts of South Korea to demand that US troops in South Korea withdraw from South Korea. In front of U.S. military bases in Pyeongtaek and Gunsan, rallyers chanted slogans such as "U.S. troops retreat."
The ROK Practice Committee of the June 15 Joint Declaration, a South Korean non-governmental organization, also issued a statement a few days ago, urging the US and ROK governments to immediately suspend joint military exercises and abandon hostile policies toward the DPRK that may trigger military conflict in order to safeguard peace on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.
Analysts call it a joint South Korean-U.S. military exercise
It will endanger regional security
North Korea has always viewed the joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises as a threatening move hostile to North Korea and demanded that the exercises be stopped.
South Korean analysts believe that the large-scale joint military exercises held by the ROK and the United States are not conducive to the peaceful settlement of the Peninsula issue through dialogue and consultation, and will endanger the security of the region. Gou Tae-hwan, former president of the Korea Institute of Unification Studies, pointed out that from the perspective of the DPRK, the so-called counterattack training in the second phase of this exercise is training in attacking the DPRK. He stressed that such a strong and non-defensive joint military exercise will not help to restart dialogue with the DPRK, but is only a "poison" that should be interrupted.
Kwon Ki-sik, a former research professor at the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at Hanyang University in South Korea, said that there must be no further war on the Korean Peninsula, and that South Korea and the United States should not hold joint military exercises that have sparked tensions on the peninsula, but should strive for dialogue with North Korea. The United States has taken actions to escalate tensions for its own selfish interests and push the world into a "new Cold War," which is not conducive to the stability of the world order and the prosperity and cooperation of all countries.