North Korea tests new weapons. (Photo: Yonhap/TTXVN)

The drills, called “Vigilant Ace”, involving hundreds of fighter jets will continue until Friday despite international calls for restraint. North Korea described the joint US-South Korean drills as invasive acts while the US and South Korea insist that the joint drills are defensive.

Unusual factors

This “Vigilant Ace” exercise is the biggest ever. More than 12,000 US service members and six F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighters among 230 fighters will participate in the drill. This is the first time such a large number of the US’s most advanced fighters have been present in South Korea. F-35 Lightning II fighters will also join the drills, which will also include the largest number of 5^th generation fighters ever to take part. Experts say it will be hard for North Korea’s advanced radar system to trace F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters.

The large-scale drills with powerful fighters have worried the world public, though South Korea and the US say the drills are a routine activity to ensure peace and security on the Korean peninsula. Prior to these drills, the US conducted a naval exercise with three aircraft carriers near the Korean border.

Dangerous “games”

Amidst extreme tension on the Korean peninsula, Russia and China urged North Korea to halt its nuclear program and the US and South Korea to halt their drills. But those calls have been ignored. North Korea described the drills as a dangerous provocation saying the US is begging for a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula. Some officials in the US have called for evacuation of American dependents from South Korea.

Annual joint drills between the US and South Korea have always strained the relationship between the two Koreas. Both sides need to show restraint because neither a large scale military confrontation nor a nuclear war is in their best interest.