SEOUL: The United States and South Korea began their biggest combined military training in years Monday as they heighten their defense posture against the growing North Korean nuclear threat.
The drills could draw an angry response from North Korea, which has dialed up its weapons testing activity to a record pace this year while repeatedly threatening conflicts with Seoul and Washington amid a prolonged stalemate in diplomacy.
The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises will continue through Sept. 1 in South Korea and include field exercises involving aircraft, warships, tanks and potentially tens of thousands of troops.
While Washington and Seoul describe their exercises as defensive, North Korea portrays them as invasion rehearsals and has used them to justify its nuclear weapons and missiles development.
Ulchi Freedom Shield, which started along with a four-day South Korean civil defense training program led by government employees, will reportedly include exercises simulating joint attacks, front-line reinforcements of arms and fuel, and removals of weapons of mass destruction.
The allies will also train for drone attacks and other new developments in warfare shown during Russia’s war on Ukraine and practice joint military-civilian responses to attacks on seaports, airports and major industrial facilities such as semiconductor factories.
The United States and South Korea in past years had canceled some of their regular drills and downsized others to computer simulations to create space for the Trump administration’s diplomacy with North Korea and because of COVID-19 concerns.
Tensions have grown since the collapse of the second meeting between former President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in early 2019. The Americans then rejected North Korean demands for a major release of crippling US-led sanctions in exchange for dismantling an aging nuclear complex, which would have amounted to a partial surrender of the North’s nuclear capabilities. Kim has since vowed to bolster his nuclear deterrent in face of “gangster-like” US pressure.
South Korea’s military has not revealed the number of South Korean and US troops participating in Ulchi Freedom Shield, but has portrayed the training as a message of strength. Seoul’s Defense Ministry said last week that Ulchi Freedom Shield “normalizes” large-scale training and field exercises between the allies to help bolster their alliance and strengthen their defense posture against the evolving North Korean threat.
Before being shelved or downsized, the United States and South Korea held major joint exercises every spring and summer in South Korea.
The spring drills had included live-fire drills involving a broad range of land, air and sea assets and usually involved around 10,000 American and 200,000 Korean troops. Tens of thousands of allied troops participated in the summertime drills, which mainly consisted of computer simulations to hone joint decision-making and planning, although South Korea’s military has emphasized the revival of field training this year.
The drills follow North Korea’s dismissal last week of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s “audacious” proposal of economic benefits in exchange for denuclearization steps, accusing Seoul of recycling proposals Pyongyang has long rejected.
Kim Yo Jong, the increasingly powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, described Yoon’s proposal as foolish and stressed that the North has no intentions to give away an arsenal her brother clearly sees as his strongest guarantee of survival.
She harshly criticized Yoon for continuing military exercises with the United States and also for letting South Korean civilian activists fly anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets and other “dirty waste” across the border by balloon.
She also ridiculed US-South Korean military capabilities for monitoring the North’s missile activity, insisting that the South misread the launch site of the North’s latest missile tests on Wednesday last week, hours before Yoon used a news conference to urge Pyongyang to return to diplomacy.
Kim Yo Jong’s statement came a week after she warned of “deadly” retaliation against South Korea over a recent North Korean COVID-19 outbreak, which Pyongyang dubiously claims was caused by leaflets and other objects floated by southern activists. There are concerns that the threat portends a provocation which might include a nuclear or missile test or even border skirmishes, and that the North might try to raise tensions sometime around the allied drills.
Last week’s launches of two suspected cruise missiles extended a record pace in North Korean missile testing in 2022, which has involved more than 30 ballistic launches, including the country’s first demonstrations of intercontinental ballistic missiles in nearly five years.
North Korea’s heighted testing activity underscores its dual intent to advance its arsenal and force the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power so it can negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength, experts say.
Kim Jong Un could up the ante soon as there are indications that the North is preparing to conduct its first nuclear test since September 2017, when it claimed to have developed a thermonuclear weapon to fit on its ICBMs.
US, South Korea open biggest drills in years amid threats from North Korea
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US, South Korea open biggest drills in years amid threats from North Korea
- Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises include field exercises involving aircraft, warships, tanks and potentially tens of thousands of troops
- North Korea portrays them as invasion rehearsals and has used them to justify its nuclear weapons and missiles development
Ousted South Korean President Yoon embraces supporters after leaving presidential residence
- Constitutional Court removed him from office over his ill-fated imposition of martial law in December
- Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, returned to their private apartment in affluent southern Seoul
In recent days, moving trucks were seen driving in and out of the walled presidential compound in the Hannam-dong district, the site of a massive law enforcement operation in January that led to Yoon’s detainment. Yoon, who is facing a criminal trial on rebellion charges, was released from custody in March after a Seoul court canceled his arrest.
Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, along with their 11 dogs and cats, returned to their private apartment in affluent southern Seoul. As his black van arrived at the gate of the presidential compound, Yoon stepped out, smiling and waving to his supporters, shaking hands and embracing dozens of them, before getting back into the vehicle and leaving the site.
Arriving at the apartment complex where his private residence is located, Yoon stepped out of the van again and walked slowly through a crowd of supporters, shaking their hands as they chanted his name, as his wife closely followed.
Dozens of both supporters and critics of Yoon rallied in nearby streets amid a heavy police presence, holding signs that ran from “Your excellency Yoon, we will carry on with your spirit” to “Give Yoon Suk Yeol the death penalty!”
In a separate public message, Yoon expressed gratitude to his supporters who had protested for months calling for his reinstatement, and stressed that he will “continue to do my utmost” to build the “free and prosperous Republic of Korea that we have dreamed of together,” invoking South Korea’s formal name.
Yoon, a conservative who narrowly won the 2022 election, declared martial law on late-night television on Dec. 3, vowing to eradicate “anti-state” liberals whom he accused of abusing their legislative majority to obstruct his agenda. Yoon also declared a suspension of legislative activities and sent hundreds of troops to surround the National Assembly, but lawmakers still managed to form a quorum and voted to lift martial law just hours after it was imposed.
Yoon’s powers were suspended after the Assembly impeached him on Dec. 14. The Constitutional Court upheld impeachment and formally removed him from office last week, triggering a presidential election the government set for June 3.
Despite his self-inflicted downfall, it’s unlikely that Yoon will fade into the background, experts say. With the country entering election mode, he may try to rally his supporters while seeking to tighten his grip on the conservative People Power Party, whose leadership is stacked with loyalists.
Facing a separate criminal trial on rebellion charges, which are punishable by death or life in prison, Yoon would strongly prefer a conservative president who could pardon him if convicted and is likely to push to ensure the party’s primaries are won by a candidate he supports, experts say.
China hits back at Trump tariff hike, turmoil rings recession alarm
- Donald Trump has now imposed new tariffs on Chinese goods of 145 percent since taking office
- Beijing indicated that this would be the last time it matched the US tariff hike
BEIJING/WARSAW/WASHINGTON: Beijing on Friday increased its tariffs on US imports to 125 percent, hitting back against US President Donald Trump’s decision to hike duties on Chinese goods to 145 percent and raising the stakes in a trade war that threatens to up-end global supply chains.
China’s retaliation intensified the economic turmoil unleashed by Trump’s tariffs, with markets tumbling further and foreign leaders puzzling how to respond to the biggest disruption to the world trade order in decades.
The brief reprieve for battered stocks seen after Trump decided to pause duties for dozens of countries for 90 days quickly dissipated, as attention returned to the escalating trade conflict between the US and China that has fueled global recession fears.
Global stocks fell, the dollar slid and a sell-off in US government bonds picked up pace on Friday, reigniting fears of fragility in the world’s biggest bond market. Gold, a safe haven for investors in times of crisis, scaled a record high.
“Recession risk is much, much higher now than it was a couple weeks ago,” said Adam Hetts, global head of multi-asset at Janus Henderson.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shrugged off the renewed market turmoil on Thursday and said striking deals with other countries would bring certainty.
The US and Vietnam have agreed to begin formal trade talks, the White House said. The Southeast Asian manufacturing hub is prepared to crack down on Chinese goods being shipped to the United States via its territory in the hope of avoiding tariffs, Reuters exclusively reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, meanwhile, has set up a trade task force that hopes to visit Washington next week.
Trade war with China
As Trump suddenly paused his ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on other countries hours after they came into effect earlier this week, he ratcheted up duties on Chinese imports as punishment for Beijing’s initial move to retaliate.
He has now imposed new tariffs on Chinese goods of 145 percent since taking office.
China hit back with new tariffs on Friday, although Beijing indicated that this would be the last time it matched the US, should Trump take his duties any higher.
“Even if the US continues to impose even higher tariffs, it would no longer have any economic significance and would go down as a joke in the history of world economics,” the finance ministry statement added.
“If the US continues to play a numbers game with tariffs, China will not respond,” it added, however, leaving the door open for Beijing to turn to other types of retaliation, and reiterating that China would fight the US to the end.
Trump had told reporters at the White House on Thursday that he thought the United States could make a deal with China and said he respected Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“In a true sense he’s been a friend of mine for a long period of time, and I think that we’ll end up working out something that’s very good for both countries,” he said.
Xi, in his first public remarks on Trump’s tariffs, told Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during a meeting in Beijing on Friday that China and the European Union should “jointly oppose unilateral acts of bullying,” in a clear swipe at Trump’s tariff policies.
“There are no winners in a trade war,” the Chinese leader told his guest, adding that by acting together, the world’s second-largest economy and the 27-strong European trade bloc could defend their interests and help uphold “the global rules-based order,” China’s state news agency Xinhua reported.
Taliban publicly execute a third person for murder: Afghan Supreme Court
- Afghanistan’s Supreme Court said Taliban authorities executed three convicted murderers on Friday, bringing to nine the number of men publicly put to death since their return to power
KABUL: Afghanistan’s Supreme Court said Taliban authorities executed three convicted murderers on Friday, bringing to nine the number of men publicly put to death since their return to power, according to an AFP tally.
Two men were executed in front of spectators in Qala I Naw, the center of Badghis province, while a third was killed in Zaranj in Nimroz province, the Supreme Court said in a statement.
Court to rule on Danish arms sales to Israel case
- Danish media outlets Danwatch and Information revealed in 2023 that Israel’s F-35s were equipped with parts made by the Danish group Terma
COPENHAGEN: A Copenhagen court is to rule Friday whether a lawsuit filed by four humanitarian organizations accusing Denmark of violating international law by exporting weapons to Israel is admissible in court.
The Palestinian human rights association Al-Haq, Amnesty International, Oxfam and Action Aid Denmark filed the lawsuit against the Danish foreign ministry and national police last year.
They said in a statement there was a risk that “Danish military materiel was being used to commit serious crimes against civilians in Gaza.”
The associations targeted the foreign ministry in their lawsuit since it “determines whether there is a risk that weapons and weapons components could be used to violate human rights” and the police because it was the authority responsible for issuing export licenses.
Denmark’s Eastern High Court is expected to announce its decision around 10:00 am (0800 GMT).
“We are the biggest human rights organization in the world and our mandate is clearly to protect human rights,” the secretary general of the Danish branch of Amnesty International, Vibe Klarup, said in a statement.
Danish media outlets Danwatch and Information revealed in 2023 that Israel’s F-35s were equipped with parts made by the Danish group Terma.
“Amnesty International has been working for several years to rally support for the UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to ensure that states’ arms trading is not used to commit human rights violations,” said Klarup.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen argued in October that Denmark’s participation in the F-35 program was “crucial for our security and our relations with our main allies.”
Last year, Amnesty International accused Israel of “committing genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza.
The Danish lawsuit was filed in March 2024, on the heels of a similar suit filed in the Netherlands by a coalition of humanitarian organizations.
A Dutch court in December rejected demands by pro-Palestinian groups for a total ban on exporting goods that can be used for military means to Israel.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the overall death toll has reached 50,846 since the war with Israel began on October 7, 2023, a figure the UN has deemed reliable.
Hamas’ unprecedented assault on Israel resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.
Nearly 100 killed after heavy rain in India, Nepal
- The Indian Meteorological Department raised a multi-hazard warning for the country on Wednesday
- Local media reported that more than 20 people have died in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh
NEW DELHI: Nearly 100 people have died since Wednesday after heavy rain lashed parts of India and Nepal, officials and media said, and the weather department has predicted more unseasonal rain for the region.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had on Wednesday raised a multi-hazard warning for the country, with heatwave conditions in the western parts and thunderstorms in the eastern and central region.
In the eastern state of Bihar, at least 64 people died in rain-related incidents since Wednesday, a senior official from the state’s disaster management department told Reuters.
Local media reported that more than 20 people have died in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile in neighboring Nepal, lightning strikes and heavy rain killed at least eight people, National Disaster Authority officials said.
India’s weather office expects heavy rain with thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds over central and eastern India till Saturday.
The monsoon season usually begins in June in southern India, and summer months in the recent past have been marked by intense heatwaves that have killed several people.
State-run IMD said last week that India is expected to experience a much hotter April, with above normal temperatures across most of the country.
