South Korea calls for enhanced preparedness against North Korea’s ‘grey zone’ provocations

Seoul, Aug 19: As South Korea and the US kicked off their annual joint exercises on Monday, President Yoon Suk-yeol called for enhanced preparedness against North Korea’s “grey zone” provocations and hybrid warfare.

This year’s Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise will focus on integrating the allies’ capabilities under various crisis scenarios to deter North Korea’s emerging military threats, psychological warfare and cyber attacks, Yoon said during a Cabinet meeting, Yonhap news agency reported.

“We must strengthen our preparedness to respond to North Korea’s grey zone provocations, such as the spread of false information, fake news and cyber attacks,” Yoon said.

“Anti-state forces threatening free democracy are operating covertly in various places,” he said. Yoon warned that North Korea may try to cause social instability through violence, propaganda and agitation.

“We should actively seek ways to prevent division and instill the people’s resolve to resist,” Yoon said. “To maintain national security and enhance our war preparedness, we must firmly protect transportation, communications, water, social infrastructure and important national facilities.”

Ulchi Freedom Shield, which runs until Aug. 29, includes computer-simulated war games and field training, while the Seoul government conducts civil defense exercises from Monday to Thursday. On the first day of the drills, Yoon chaired a National Security Council meeting with Cabinet members and Admiral Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to assess government and military preparations and contingency plans, his office said.

Seoul and Washington have said their drills are defensive in nature, but Pyongyang has denounced the allies’ joint exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion against it.

On Sunday, the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s Institute for American Studies condemned the Ulchi drills as “the most aggressive and provocative war drills for aggression.”

Tensions remain high as North Korea has launched thousands of balloons filled with garbage across the border in retaliation for South Korean civilian groups sending balloons containing anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets into North Korea.