Spread of BA.5 in Military... Is Joint Training Possible in the Second Half of the Year?

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The discovery of the Omicron subvariant named BA.5 within the military is emerging as a variable for the joint exercises in the second half of the year. BA.5 has the characteristic of evading immunity acquired through COVID-19 vaccines or natural infection, and if it becomes the dominant strain, reinfections and breakthrough infections may follow.

On the 8th, a military official stated, “As a result of sample testing on soldiers recently confirmed with COVID-19, about 25% were found to be infected with BA.5.”

The day before, the Ministry of National Defense announced that the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases within the military was 531 in the Army, 30 in the Navy, 89 in the Air Force, 32 in the Marine Corps, and 9 in the Ministry of National Defense’s direct units. The problem is the increasing trend. Health authorities expect that BA.5 will become the dominant strain within two weeks, given that the detection rate of BA.5 rapidly increased from 7.5% the previous week to 24.1%. They also forecast that if the spread of BA.5 triggers a full-scale resurgence of COVID-19, daily new confirmed cases could rise to as many as 200,000. Accordingly, military authorities predict a rapid increase in the spread within the military as well.

If the spread of BA.5 accelerates within the military, the joint exercises promised by South Korea and the U.S. in the second half of the year will become uncertain. Since 2020, many exercises that were reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic have not been conducted as “normal.”

Some express concerns that if the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises are expanded in the second half of the year, the justification for doing so may be lost. The Ministry of National Defense has explained that joint exercises have not been conducted due to the spread of COVID-19. However, the joint exercises were repeatedly postponed, canceled, or reduced during the Moon Jae-in administration in 2018 amid inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S. dialogues under the pretext of “inducing North Korea’s denuclearization.” If the joint exercises are expanded in the second half of the year while COVID-19 is spreading again, the military’s explanation could appear weak.

A military official said, “There is no change in the plan to expand the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises in the second half of the year, but we are monitoring various developments such as the resurgence of COVID-19.”

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