Vaccination of Military Personnel by Next Month... North Korea Expected to Oppose ROK-US Joint Exercises

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The military authorities plan to complete COVID-19 vaccinations for military personnel by next month and conduct the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises normally in August. However, military provocations are expected to be carried out despite North Korea's anticipated backlash.

Following the South Korea-U.S. summit, the United States decided to supply COVID-19 vaccines to 550,000 South Korean troops. The vaccines that U.S. President Joe Biden has expressed willingness to provide directly to the South Korean military are expected to be Moderna or Pfizer. Among the three COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the U.S.?Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen?the Janssen vaccine may be restricted for personnel under 30 years old due to rare blood clot cases reported overseas.

It is also expected that a sufficient quantity of vaccines will be secured to vaccinate newly enlisted soldiers. In fact, the military authorities reportedly have a plan to administer the first dose of Pfizer vaccine to soldiers in their fifth week of enlistment between July 7 and 25, the scheduled period for the first Pfizer dose within the military, and then provide the second dose after their unit assignment.

If vaccine support is provided to the South Korean military first, the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises scheduled for around August are expected to proceed normally. Due to COVID-19, joint exercises have been scaled down since last year. If normal joint exercises are conducted around August and the FOC (Full Operational Capability) verification is carried out, the transfer of wartime operational control is expected to accelerate.

The problem lies in North Korea's backlash. In March, North Korea opposed the South Korea-U.S. joint command post exercises and declared that future cooperation and exchanges with South Korea are unnecessary. Kim Yo-jong, Deputy Director of the Workers' Party of North Korea, stated in a commentary titled "The spring days from three years ago will hardly return" published in the party newspaper Rodong Sinmun, "We have heard that the South Korean authorities have embarked on the path of forcibly conducting aggressive war exercises targeting our republic starting from the 8th," expressing this position.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.