Silent exercise of the United States and South Korea

South Korea and the United States began joint air drills on Monday amid tensions over recent North Korean missile tests and requests, IRNA reported Monday, quoting Reuters. There is a need for a resumption of nuclear disarmament talks.

Tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of fighter jets, bombers and other advanced fighter jets will take part in the exercise. Such exercises, which have already taken place, have been reduced since 2017 to facilitate talks aimed at ending Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile program in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions.

The five-day joint exercise between Washington and Seoul is said to have begun without notice.

A South Korean Air Force spokesman, however, has not yet confirmed the news of the exercise.

The exercise, according to many observers, was in response to a test launch of a North Korean ballistic missile from a submarine, the country’s latest weapons test.

During a visit to Seoul last week, US envoy to North Korea Sung Kim described Pyongyang’s recent missile tests as “worrying and reverse” and called on North Korea to accept proposals for talks.

North Korea has so far rejected US proposals to resume talks, accusing Washington and Seoul of imposing “double standards” for criticizing its weapons program. Pyongyang says the United States and South Korea, on the one hand, condemn North Korea’s weapons program by defending diplomacy, and on the other hand, escalate tensions through their military activities.