POLITICS: South Korea And USA Begin Joint Military Exercises

The United States and South Korea began a series of joint military exercises today. Over 17,000 U.S troops and an unspecified number of South Korean troops will take part in the exercises. The exercise is said to be done to better prepare for attacks from North Korea. North Korea feels that the US is preparing an invasion to topple it's government. The U.S. denied the allegations of invasion and urged North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions



When Russia and China decided to practice joint exercises, Taiwan felt threatened, so obviously this action between the U.S and South Korean would be deemed threatening by North Korean. The exercises while beneficial to the military does not help ease tension in the region. But perhaps by showing our military might so close to Kim Jong's backyard, he will get the message to curb his nuclear ambitions and might be ready to return to the tables for talks.

Related ATS Threads
Condi in S. Korea for interview via Web


[edit on 3-19-2005 by worldwatcher]

i see war in asia around couple years from now or so...

You have to love war games and the overt and covert signals they send.

Can you really blame Russia and China for holding joint military exercises on their own door step when the US stages them globally?

Also Kim Jong Ill is not a man with logic in his skill set. Any intimidation he feels will bolster his need to protect himself (nuclear means) rather than cause him to re-evaluate his strategy and back down.

[edit on 19/3/05 by subz]

There's nothing special about these exercises. We hold them every year, and we always get the same response from North Korea.

I was stationed in S. Korea in 84-85 and these exercises were held back then. They were called Team Spirit at that time. It was mainly a chance for American and ROK soldiers to interact with each other. I'm not sure if the magnitude of the exercises have changed since then.

I doubt the Nkoreans suddenly start building new nukes because of some yearly recurring exercise, they are either bluffing or will be building regardless of the exercise anyway...

Barking loud is a dogs first line of defense

All the time....

I just posted this same thing on another thread

Every year the US military has at least 5 major exercises in planning/preparation for war with North Korea....no big secret.

Most of the exercises involves many troops from the pacific
theatre going to South Korea for months on end doing training,
war gaming, planning...the list goes on.....

Here is a few of them

KITP, RSO&I, Foal Eagle and Freedom Banner all go on this time of the year every year for about 2 months..give or take.

And UFL (Ulchi Focus Lens) is the big one that goes every August....

It's no secret that the US has exercises going on....it's not a last minute prep time for N.Korea....just prep time, not last minute...nothing to be alarmed over

Nice thread by the way