On March 10, as the US and South Korea began their important annual joint military exercise Freedom Shield, North Korea test-fired a series of ballistic missiles toward the Yellow Sea.
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| A new intermediate-range ballistic missile with a hypersonic warhead launched by North Korea on January 6. |
Freedom Shield is the first major military exercise by Washington and Seoul since US President Donald Trump took office in January, Yonhap news agency reported.
"Our commitment to Seoul is as strong as ever. We are building our readiness and capability to defend South Korea against any threat," said Colonel Ryan Donald, spokesman for US Forces Korea (USFK).
The 11-day exercise will include computer simulations and field training. South Korea will deploy about 19,000 troops, with 16 large-scale field exercises, up from 10 last year.
However, live-fire drills will not take place during this year's spring exercises, after a South Korean fighter jet accidentally dropped a bomb on a civilian village on March 6.
Freedom Shield is one of two major annual South Korea-US exercises based on a full-scale conflict scenario. The other exercise - Ulchi Freedom Shield - usually takes place in August.
Responding to the above exercise, on the same day, the North Korean Foreign Ministry stated: "This is a dangerous provocation, pushing the tense situation on the peninsula to the extreme point, which can trigger a physical conflict between the two sides with just a random shot."
North Korea accused the South Korea-US alliance of "continually holding large-scale joint military exercises" despite Pyongyang's repeated warnings, saying "the wanton display of force will lead to a grave security crisis".
At around 1:50 p.m. on March 10 (11:50 a.m. Vietnam time), the South Korean military announced that North Korea had fired multiple unidentified ballistic missiles toward the Yellow Sea.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from North Korea's Hwanghae Province but did not provide further details, noting that the launch may have involved a short-range ballistic missile (CRBM).
The JCS said it has stepped up surveillance and maintained a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States.
Source: https://baoquocte.vn/my-han-khai-man-tap-tran-chung-trien-khai-luc-luong-khung-trieu-tien-phong-ten-lua-phan-doi-307000.html
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