Korea, U.S. to hold joint training of unprecedented scale in June

Korea and the United States plan to execute a joint training of unprecedented scale in June to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance. The joint firepower annihilation drill, called the Integrated Firepower Exercise...

The Korea-U.S. Navy amphibious task force participating in the 2023 Ssangryong training in the waters near Pohang on Tuesday. From right in the front row, ROKS Dokdo (LPH), Marado (LPH), and USS Makin Island (LHD) of the U.S. Navy. [NEWS1]

Korea and the United States plan to execute a joint training of unprecedented scale in June to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance.

The joint firepower annihilation drill, called the Integrated Firepower Exercise, is an exercise in which the combined forces of Korea and the United States mobilize the latest, cutting-edge weapons on land, sea and air to demonstrate their ability to retaliate and destroy enemies in a military contingency or provocation, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

It has been held nine times between 1977 and 2017, the last time being in Pocheon, Gyeonggi, close to the inter-Korean border. Korean forces brought in K2 tanks and K21 armored vehicles, in addition to F-15K combat helicopters, while the United States Forces Korea showcased A-10 combat jets, Apache helicopters and Bradley fighting vehicles.

A total of 2,000 troops were involved in the last drill.

This year, the drill is expected to include both manned and unmanned collaborative combat systems.

To mark 70 years of the alliance this year, which also coincides with the anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, President Yoon Suk Yeol will be meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington in April, marking the first Korean presidential state visit to the United States in 12 years.

The Foreign Ministry also announced a schedule of events to mark the occasion on Wednesday, including a forum hosted with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in April on the Korea-U.S. alliance, and another with Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, to discuss the latest bilateral agenda on economy, technology and cyber security with experts and officials.

A Korea-U.S. forum on space technology will also be held, as well as on bilateral cooperation on overseas development organized by the Korea International Cooperation Agency and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

To engage students and the younger population, Korean and American diplomats will be visiting middle and high schools in both nations throughout the year, the ministry added.

A number of cultural festivals have been planned to take place across the United States, such as a Korean speaking contest in New England in April, a Taekwondo competition in Boston, Massachusetts in June, a Korean film festival in Boston in October, and several Korea Week and Korea Festival events planned throughout the year in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California and Houston, Texas.

U.S. veterans of the Korean War will be invited to a commemorative event in Hawaii in April and Guam in November.

The United States committed 1,789,000 troops to the Korean War, which made up the largest contingent among the United Nations forces. The war claimed the lives of 33,739 Americans, while another 103,284 were wounded and 7,140 were taken captive, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

U.S. soldiers take a position as a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter prepares to land during a field artillery battalion gun raid drill at a military training field in Pocheon on Sunday, as part of the Freedom Shield joint military exercise. [AFP/YONHAP]

The Korean War ended on July 27, 1953, with an armistice not a peace treaty, meaning the two Koreas are still technically at war.

North Korea fired a record number of ballistic missiles last year — over 90 — a streak that continued this year. The regime has fired two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) this year as of last week, including its largest and most powerful ICBM the Hwasong-17.

Korea and the United States, in addition to levying sanctions on the North for its weapons development and provocations, have expanded their joint military exercises in recent months, including the Freedom Shield exercise held from March 13 to 23, which was their biggest combined military exercise in five years.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]