Ulchi Freedom Shield opens under Trump's cutback, senators object, warning shots on the eastern front
Ulchi Freedom Shield opened with 18,000 South Korean troops as Reed and senators objected to Trump's cutback. Warning shots followed a demarcation-line crossing on the eastern front.
Geopolitics··Night
Ulchi Freedom Shield opens with 18,000 troops
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise began on Monday with 18,000 South Korean soldiers and is scheduled to run for eleven days. South Korea's presidential office said in a statement to AFP that Seoul and Washington had maintained close coordination on the combined defence posture and on joint exercises and training, and would continue to do so. The exercise is presented as readiness training against North Korean threats and as reinforcement of the alliance's role in regional peace and security. The presidential office also said Seoul hoped the friendly relationship between the American and North Korean leaders could open meaningful talks between Washington and Pyongyang. Neither government has said which parts of the programme the reduction will touch.[1]
Reed calls the cutback inane as senators from both parties object
Jack Reed, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Trump's order to reduce joint exercises with South Korea inane and said it made American commitments look negotiable, adding that China and Russia were watching how easily the president abandoned allies. Senator Andy Kim objected that the announcement came unilaterally, through social media, on a matter the two governments settle together. Representative Pramila Jayapal called the decision dangerous for regional stability. Republican Senator Thom Tillis said it frees North Korean troops to support Russia in Ukraine and noted that South Korea had been a solid military ally for more than seventy years. Trump said he had ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce the exercises, citing his relationship with Kim Jong Un and Seoul's refusal to join the war against Iran.[2]
Warning shots on the eastern front after the demarcation line is crossed
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said warning shots were fired when North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line on the eastern front, and that the soldiers then turned back. Yonhap reported it as the first such crossing recorded this year. The Joint Chiefs of Staff statement gave no date for the incident, said the shots were fired according to operational procedures and that the military was closely monitoring North Korean movements. Yonhap, citing an unnamed source, had reported earlier that the warning shots were fired last week and that the soldiers were likely on patrol when they crossed the line. The agency said the line was crossed 17 times last year. North Korea's embassy in Singapore did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The 1950 to 1953 conflict ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty, so the two Koreas remain technically at war.[3]
