North Korean leader's criticism of South Korea-US drills 'repetitive response'

Seoul, Aug 19 (IANS) The South Korean Presidential Office said Tuesday North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's criticism of the country's annual joint drills with the United States was a "repetitive response," while reiterating the drills are defensive in nature.

Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung made the remarks in response to comments by Kim that denounced the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise as demonstrating "the most hostile and confrontational" stance by South Korea and the US toward North Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"We always maintain the stance that the Ulchi exercise is a defensive drill," Kang told reporters.

Pyongyang has long denounced the allies' joint exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion against it.

On Tuesday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the commander of the US Forces Korea (USFK) underscored the importance of combined training in bolstering the allies' defence posture to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula, the JCS said.

JCS Chairman Admiral Kim Myung-soo and USFK Commander General Xavier Brunson, who also serves as the commander of the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command, made the point as they visited a military unit amid the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise currently under way.

"Our training is complex, combined, joint, all-domain and ensures our readiness to meet any challenge," Brunson said during his visit to the Combined Military Information Support Operations Component Command. "Our ability to fight tonight and win tomorrow is grounded in how we train today."

He stressed the South Korea-US alliance is the allies' "asymmetric advantage" that can directly counter any threats from adversaries.

Kim highlighted the importance of military information support operations in modern warfare and called for utmost efforts to maximise combined operational capabilities through close communication.

Both Kim and Brunson noted that an "ironclad" combined defence posture is a powerful strength that can support efforts to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula, adding that such capabilities can only be strengthened through practical training, according to the JCS.

The visit came as South Korea and the United States launched their summertime drills Monday for an 11-day run through August 28.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un denounced the combined exercise as showing their will to "ignite a war" and called for a "rapid expansion" of nuclear arms, Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday. Seoul and Washington have described the annual drills as purely defensive.

--IANS

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