Yoon warns about 'irrational' North during command post visit amid joint exercise with U.S.

President Yoon Suk Yeol warned that the North could face the end of its regime if it invades the South during a visit to the Army's Ground Operations Command in Yongin, Gyeonggi, on Wednesday amid the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, gives words of encouragement to South Korean and U.S. troops during a visit to the Army’s Ground Operations Command in Yongin, Gyeonggi, where he was briefed on the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield combined exercise with the United States which began Monday for an 11-day run. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

President Yoon Suk Yeol warned Wednesday that the North Korean regime "is the most irrational group on earth, capable of carrying out provocations at any time" during a visit to an Army command post amid a major joint military exercise with the United States.

Yoon gave the stern warning during a surprise trip to the South Korean Army's Ground Operations Command in Yongin, Gyeonggi, on Wednesday to inspect military readiness amid the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) combined exercise, the presidential office said.

"Only our military's strong security posture can prevent their miscalculation," Yoon was quoted as saying by his spokesperson regarding Pyongyang's threats. "All soldiers must be armed with the belief that they will protect the lives and safety of our people and the liberal democratic system."

Presidential spokesperson Jeong Hye-jeon said in a statement that Yoon had relayed the message, "We must make sure that North Korea, which is dreaming of unification with South Korea, clearly recognizes that launching an invasion would end its regime."

The Ulchi Freedom Shield, which kicked off on Monday and is scheduled to run through Aug. 29, includes a computer simulation-based command post exercise and field training maneuvers. The four-day Ulchi civil defense exercise has been conducted simultaneously since Monday.

This marks the first time that a commander-in-chief has visited the Ground Operations Command, launched after the Army's First and Third Army commands became integrated in 2019. The command oversees approximately 250,000 soldiers, more than half of the South Korean Armed Forces, the presidential office said.

Yoon was briefed by Gen. Kang Shin-chul, deputy commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), on the command's military readiness posture in case of North Korean threats and the status of the ongoing UFS drills.

Yoon also gave words of encouragement to the troops at the command during the visit, greeting some 70 Korean and American soldiers. He was flanked by Korean military brass, Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), and Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve, commander of the U.S. Eighth Army.

"Peace is always a given when we prepare for war," Yoon told the troops. "There is absolutely no such thing as free peace."

He said the South-U.S. alliance was evaluated "as the most successful alliance in human history," expressing his hopes that South Korean and U.S. soldiers will build deep camaraderie through this exercise.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, greets a soldier during a visit to the Army’s Ground Operations Command in Yongin, Gyeonggi, where he was briefed on the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield combined exercise with the United States which began Monday for an 11-day run. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

Earlier in the day, Yoon attended a luncheon with leading experts in unification and diplomacy, including former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and former Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, the presidential office said.

The luncheon was an opportunity for Yoon to explain the unification doctrine he announced through his Liberation Day address on Aug. 15.

He discussed ways to mobilize domestic liberal democratic capacity, strengthen the unification aspirations of the North Korean people and encourage the international community to support a free and unified Korea, according to Yoon's office in a statement.

The experts relayed that at this point, the priority should be to strengthen the foundation of liberal democracy by allowing truth and freedom to grow together in South Korean society, his office added.

They also said there is a need for accessible and persuasive unification education programs so that the South Korean people can reconsider the notion of unification and reflect upon the spirit of the Constitution and the ideological meaning of the liberal order.

Yoon further called for active efforts to publicize this vision of unification and to elicit international support and cooperation, noting that the international community has appreciated South Korea's recent international status and role.

On the first day of the UFS exercise, Yoon, in a Cabinet meeting, warned that "anti-state forces are operating covertly in various places to threaten liberal democracy."

He also said South Korea must "seek ways to prevent internal divisions from arising" and protect critical infrastructure and vital national facilities.

As a part of this year's UFS, the presidential National Security Office conducted an integrated cybersecurity drill for the first time involving the military and private entities.

The cyber defense drills took place at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon and a port in Busan, simulating scenarios where key infrastructure facilities and government networks come under attack.

In January, Yoon presided over an annual central integrated defense council meeting and instructed the government to establish a response system that detects and warns of cyberattacks in advance and to regularize integrated military-civilian cyber drills to support it. This meeting aimed to discuss ways to ensure security cohesion among the administrative, military and police branches, as well as civilians.

In particular, this training was planned to secure "cyber resilience" to pre-emptively prepare for possible hybrid warfare that combines cyber threats and military action, the presidential office said in a statement.

On Monday, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety conducted a drill to simulate quickly normalizing public administrative computer services such as the government portal Government24 and community center administrative networks in the case of a cyberattack by anti-state forces, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries conducted a similar exercise for cyber and physical terrorism attacks against ports.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]