US, South Korea Seem to Scale Back War Games

The U.S. and South Korea on Monday began 10 days of large-scale joint¹ military exercises, but with a reduced number of troops and assets than had participated last year.

Military leaders stress these defensive² drills are needed to maintain operational readiness, but there are concerns that a show of force could again aggravate³ tensions in the region, after the U.S. and North Korea recently came to the brink⁴ of conflict over a possible missile test targeting the Guam region.

War games

The Ulchi Freedom Guardian⁵ exercises that occur every summer are a massive military planning and coordination⁶ operation about how to respond to computer-simulated North Korean attack scenarios⁷. Some 17,500 American troops will participate, down from 25,000 last year along with 50,000 South Koreans. 

These annual war games, in addition to the combined ground, air, naval⁸ field exercise that occur in the Spring, are needed, say military leaders, to train the constant influx⁹ of new soldiers being deployed¹⁰ in the field.

“What we are talking about here is warfare¹¹. It’s not practicing for a parade, so you have to constantly be updated,” said military analyst¹² Grant Newsham with the Japan Forum¹³ For Strategic Studies in Tokyo.

De-escalation

But this year’s exercises come just as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un actually de-escalated tensions by putting put on hold a plan to fire intermediate range ballistic missiles toward waters near the U.S. territory of Guam. 

The move averted¹⁴ a possible conflict after U.S. President Donald Trump¹⁵ warned that the U.S. military was “locked and loaded” and would respond to any attack with “fire and fury.” 

Some political analysts¹⁶ suggest Washington seems to have responded to Pyongyang’s recent restraint by downsizing this year’s exercises, sending less personnel, and holding back nuclear capable bombers¹⁷ and other strategic assets.

“One way to send a reconciliatory gesture to North Korea is that we are not going to bring any strategic assets like B-1s, F-35s or nuclear powered submarines,” said political analyst Choi Kang with the Asan Institute in Seoul.

Fuel to the fire

However, on Sunday Defense¹⁸ Secretary Jim Mattis denied that North Korea’s objections factored into the reduced number of troops and assets in this year’s war games.

"No, no, this is an exercise for the defense of Korea. It's a combined exercise and it's all worked out way in advance by the alliance officers.” said Defense Secretary Mattis.

North Korea said Sunday that the military exercises “add fuel to the fire” increasing the likelihood that Pyongyang will conduct further missile and nuclear tests in the future.

North Korea has long objected to the U.S., South Korea joint military exercises that they have called “rehearsals for invasion.” Last year’s war games included planning military strikes to kill the leadership in Pyongyang. 

“The word that came out last year was decapitation because we were being threatened by North Korea having done nuclear tests and missiles, so we took those two events very seriously,” said the Asan Institute’s Choi. 

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday the joint drills are defensive in nature and not intended to raise tensions on the peninsula. He also cautioned North Korea to “not exaggerate our efforts to keep peace” nor to use the exercises as an excuse to engage in provocations¹⁹.

China and Russia have also called for the suspension of the joint military drills along with a freeze on North Korean missile and nuclear tests.

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

3 aggravate   

vt.加重(剧)，使恶化；激怒，使恼火

参考例句：

• Threats will only aggravate her.恐吓只能激怒她。
• He would only aggravate the injury by rubbing it.他揉擦伤口只会使伤势加重。

4 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

5 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

6 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

7 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

8 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

9 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

10 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

11 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

12 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

13 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

14 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。

15 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

16 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

17 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

19 provocations   

n.挑衅( provocation的名词复数 )；激怒；刺激；愤怒的原因

参考例句：

• We cannot ignore such provocations. 对于这种挑衅，我们不能置之不理。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They must immediately cease all their provocations. 他们必须停止一切挑衅。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》