SEOUL (Reuters) - The South Korean and U.S. militaries have begun their most expansive joint live-fire exercises. North Korea says it will respond with appropriate action.
South Korean and United States forces embarked on their largest-ever joint live-fire exercises on Thursday, involving some 2,500 troops near the county’s northern border.
The exercises, called “Combined annihilation firepower drills,” have been held 11 times since they began in 1977, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.
The South Korean ministry alleged the exercises’ goal was to secure “peace through overwhelming strength.”
They involve 2,500 troops and 610 weapons systems such as fighter jets, attack helicopters, drones, tanks and artillery from the two countries.
The increase compared with the most recent exercises in 2017 — which drew on about 2,000 soldiers and 250 weapons assets — is significant.

Pyongyang Vows to
Respond in Kind

North Korean state media last Friday called the drills “a typical North Korea-targeted war rehearsal.” The country views such exercises as being more focused on invasion than defense.
It said Pyongyang “cannot but take a more serious note of the fact” that the exercises were being staged so near the frontier, around which lies the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
State news outlet the Korean Central News Agency said the country would respond to the drills with unspecified “corresponding responses.”
North Korea, which declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power last year, is seeking to diversify delivery mechanisms for its nuclear weapons. Its military conducted a firing drill late last month, simulating a nuclear attack using tactical ballistic missiles. The North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has called on the military to be ready for war.
North Korea has been under harsh sanctions by the U.S. and the United Nations Security Council for years over its nuclear and ballistic missiles programs. It has launched an unprecedented number of missiles -- more than 100 -- since the beginning of 2022, including its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile ever.