South Korea and US greatest joint military drills are currently underway

• South Korea and the US are conducting their largest combined military exercises on the Korean Peninsula in years.
• Two air force colonels are sitting shoulder to shoulder in a deep military bunker outside of Seoul.
• The two forces will conduct field exercises this week to practise how they would react to a North Korean attack for the first time in four years.

South Korea and the US are conducting their largest combined military exercises on the Korean Peninsula in years In order to prepare for a battle against a North Korea that is becoming more hostile. Rare access to the nations’ combined control centre was granted. But what are the goals behind these war exercises, and what are the risks?

Two air force colonels are sitting shoulder to shoulder in a deep military bunker outside of Seoul. The first is American, the second is South Korean.

Together, they scan the massive screens at the front of the darkroom that is showing satellite images of North Korea. One of the various sources of intelligence fed into the secure vault is the photographs.

Col. Anthony Kuczynski, who oversees the operation centre for the US side, said “We have the ability to identify the millisecond a North Korean missile gets off the ground.”

An algorithm then forecasts the potential direction of the missile. He points to his South Korean colleague, Col Soe, saying, “Then, with my bad Korean, and his outstanding English, we can make a decision swiftly.”

The only location in the world where two forces collaborate to defend a single nation, the US Osan airbase’s operations centre is special. After the Korean War ended over 70 years ago without a peace treaty, the United States pledged this to South Korea.

The coordination of the nation’s air forces, armies, navies, space, and cyber activities takes place in this single room; the importance of this coordination was underscored in May when Joe Biden, the first US president, visited.

The two forces will conduct field exercises this week to practise how they would react to a North Korean attack for the first time in four years. Even though they were once routine, these drills were suspended in 2018 as the US and South Korea worked to persuade the North to give up its nuclear weapons.

But after years of diplomatic deadlock and in the face of a North Korea that is becoming more hostile, both nations have decided it is time to pick up training again.

This year, North Korea has launched more missiles than any other single year, and its arsenal of weaponry is getting more advanced. They seem to be more adept at dodging defences and striking their targets.

While this is happening, information indicates that it is about to perform its seventh nuclear test, which it may use to produce a more portable nuclear weapon that might be used against South Korea. The North Korean leader Kim Jong UN has recently issued a number of warnings that he is ready to deploy his nuclear weapons on the South.

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