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US, South Korea Vow to Expand Drills After Kim Jong Un’s Threat

  • Allies’ defense ministers agree to strengthen defense posture
  • US pledges to use ‘full range’ of capabilities to defend South
A man looks across to the North Korean side of the border at the Imjingak pavilion near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Paju, South Korea.

A man looks across to the North Korean side of the border at the Imjingak pavilion near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Paju, South Korea.

Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
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The US and South Korea have agreed to further expand joint military drills after a fresh threat from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to fight the allies. 

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin and his South Korean counterpart Lee Jong-sup met in Washington and agreed to “expand the joint exercises in the second half of 2022,” the South’s defense ministry said in a statement Saturday. They also vowed to strengthen the allies’ “deterrence posture” by deploying US strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula.