2023-08-21 09:05:09
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol said that trilateral security cooperation between the United States and Japan will become stronger as the threat of North Korea’s provocation grows. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a show of force while observing the cruise missile launch site in response to the Ulchi Freedom Shield and UFS-US-ROK joint exercises that started today (21st). Reporter Kim Hwan-yong reports from Seoul.
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol presided over a cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office in Yongsan on the 21st and said that the recent US-ROK-Japan summit held at Camp David “institutionalized and consolidated a comprehensive cooperation system among the three countries.”
President Yoon said, “The U.S.-ROK-Japan cooperation, which has been limited to regional cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, will evolve into a pan-regional cooperation that contributes to building freedom, peace, and prosperity throughout the Indo-Pacific region.”
In particular, President Yoon emphasized the strengthening of cooperation among the three countries on North Korea, such as missile warning information sharing system, military defense training, and surveillance of illegal cyber activities.
[녹취: 윤석열 대통령] “As the threat of provocation from North Korea grows, the crystallized structure of trilateral security cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will become more solid.”
On the 21st, President Yoon said about the Ulji exercise, which is a Korean government-level wartime training that will be conducted along with the Ulchi Freedom Shield and UFS-US-ROK joint exercises, “practical training is conducted in preparation for the North Korean nuclear threat, anti-state forces, and cyber attacks. ”he said.
[녹취: 윤석열 대통령] “North Korea will mobilize all available means and will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons in order to achieve its war goals. Starting from this year’s exercise, the government will conduct a North Korean nuclear response drill for the first time.”
The UFS main exercise, which began on the 21st after going through the Crisis Management Exercise (CMX), a preliminary exercise on the 16th and 18th, will strengthen the response capabilities of the US-ROK Alliance and enhance the ability to conduct national total war through greatly expanded outdoor maneuver training until the 31st. It’s possible.
In this exercise, advanced North Korean nuclear and missile capabilities and intentions, a changed security situation, lessons learned from the war in Ukraine, and countermeasures against fake news that North Korea can disseminate in times of war or emergency were reflected in the scenario.
In particular, during this UFS period, the combined outdoor maneuver training, which has been reduced since 2019, will be greatly expanded, and a total of 38 events will be held, including brigade-level combined scientific combat training and division-level twin dragon combined landing training.
In addition, it is known that there is a high possibility that US strategic assets, such as the B-1B strategic bomber, will be deployed during this exercise for joint training.
In the midst of this, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “visited the 2nd surface warship squadron of the East Sea Fleet Guards of the Korean People’s Army Navy,” the foreign official “Chosun Central News Agency” and the Labor Party’s official newspaper “Rodong Sinmun” reported with photos of the scene.
The Korean Central News Agency reported that on the same day, Chairman Kim “observed a strategic cruise missile firing drill by marines from a guard ship,” without disclosing the date of the inspection.
According to the Chosun Central News Agency, Chairman Kim boarded the “Patrol Ship No. 661,” which launched a cruise missile, and inspected the ship’s armament and combat readiness.
Looking at the photos released by North Korean media, the ship that Chairman Kim was on board appears to be an Yalu-class frigate with an estimated displacement of 1,500 tons.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (center) inspects the warship’s armament and combat readiness. Photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on the 21st.
The Korean Central News Agency reported that “in a launch drill aimed at reaffirming the warship’s combat capability and the characteristics of its missile weapon system, it quickly hit the target without a single error.”
At this meeting, Chairman Kim recalled the route for developing naval armed forces proposed by the 8th Party Congress and emphasized the modernization of naval armament equipment and the development of revolutionary naval forces, such as the construction of powerful warships and the development of shipboard and underwater weapon systems.
The South Korean military authorities, however, refuted the reports of North Korea’s strategic cruise missile launch as “exaggerated and in many parts different from the facts.”
An official from the Joint Chiefs of Staff met with reporters and told reporters that what North Korea fired was “a ship-to-ship missile and not a strategic cruise missile.”
He said, “Common sense cannot fire such a missile from such a small ship,” and “ship-to-ship missiles have a very short range and are not a very threatening means.”
The missile is likely to be an improved version of the ‘Geumseong-3’, a reverse-engineered version of the Russian Kh-35E ‘Uran’ ship-to-ship missile. The range of the Geumseong-3 is around 200 km.
An official from the Joint Chiefs of Staff also said that North Korea’s claim of a ‘hit and hit’ is not true.
An official from the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, “After detecting it with surveillance equipment, there was no hit.”
However, there is also an opinion that it cannot be concluded that it is not a strategic cruise missile.
Comparing the launch scene of the cruise missile trap, which was released by North Korea’s state-run Chosun Central TV on the 21st, and the ground launch of the ‘Arrow-2’ missile, which was released on January 25 last year, there is no difference in appearance between the two cruise missiles.
Shin Jong-woo, executive director of the Korea Defense Security Forum, a private research institute.
[녹취: 신종우 사무국장] “From the photos, it appears that North Korea launched the strategic cruise missile ‘Arrow-2’ this time. However, I don’t think the range was confirmed, and it seems that the test was conducted to see if it could be fired at a short distance from an aprok class warship.”
Experts say that if the ‘Arrow-2’, which is estimated to have a maximum range of 2,000 km and which North Korea claims can be equipped with a tactical nuclear warhead, ‘Hwasan-31’, can be launched from a ship, it can become a new threat.
Shin said the intention was to show that North Korea, which is inferior to the United States and South Korea in maritime power, is improving its ability to fire long-range surface-to-surface missiles.
In addition, if you look at the exterior of ‘Patrol Ship No. 661’, which launched the missile this time, it has a stealth shape.
Experts rated it as a rudimentary stealth ship with an external design designed to reduce the radar reflection area, although it is not enough to be called a proper stealth ship.
Kwon Yong-soo is a former professor at National Defense University in South Korea.
[녹취: 권용수 전 교수] “In the case of stealth, there is something called RAS (Radar Observing Structure), which has a structure, and from a shape point of view, we introduced something like a rudimentary stealth.”
An official from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff pointed out, “It is not a ship built within the last 10 years.”
It is explained that even if there is a stealth function, it will be very limited because the paint as well as the external structure of the ship is important for stealth performance.
Analysts say that North Korea’s disclosure of Chairman Kim’s observation of the cruise missile launch in time for the start of the UFS main exercise is a measure of opposition to the US-ROK joint training exercise.
In particular, it is an observation that it is a move with the deployment of strategic assets such as the US aircraft carrier, which is likely to be deployed during the US-ROK joint exercise, in mind.
I am Dr. Cho Han-beom at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a national research institute under the Korean government.
[녹취: 조한범 박사] “In the East Sea, when we see a cruise missile this time and a warning about the downing of a US reconnaissance aircraft in the East Sea, it is foretelling some kind of response to the ROK-US joint training or the ROK-US military trend in the East Sea, you can see it like this.”
The North Korean military had previously threatened a physical response on the 18th, saying that a US strategic reconnaissance aircraft had invaded the airspace over the North Korean economic zone in the East Sea.
Moon Seong-mook, director of the Center for Unification Strategy at the Korea Institute for National Strategy, a private research institute, said North Korea’s actions are foreshadowing further provocations against the UFS.
[녹취: 문성묵 센터장] “Recently, North Korea disputed US reconnaissance flights and Kim Jong-un inspected naval units, and I think these are some kind of provocations. And I see it as an accumulation of justification. I think it will judge the timing, intensity, and level while weighing the various provocation scenarios that North Korea can take.”
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said at a National Assembly Intelligence Committee on the 17th that North Korea is preparing various types of provocations, such as launching intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and relaunching military reconnaissance satellites, targeting the joint exercises with the United States and South Korea.
This is VOA News Kim Hwan-yong from Seoul.
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