US and South Korea Hold Joint-Training Exercise As Experts Eye Possible Winter Olympics Attack

Hundreds of U.S. and South Korean Marines trained in sub-zero temperatures Tuesday, weeks before the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

The three-week training regiment began on Dec. 4 at Mount Hwangbyeong training camp as part of the Korea Marine Exercise Program, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

The joint winter drill, which first began in 2013, “has been held with a focus on enhancing the combined combat capabilities of the South Korean and US Marine Corps in winter war conditions under which temperatures drop to about minus 20 degrees Celsius,” according to a spokesperson for the III U.S. Marine Expeditionary Force.

Troops were seen engaging in hand-to-hand combat, aiming rifles while skiing, completing target practice and hurdling through an obstacle course as part of their training in the frigid tundra.

South Korean Marine Corps Commandant Lt. General Jun Jin-goo told U.S. and South Korean military personnel: “You are a symbol of the robust South Korea-U.S. alliance, overcoming the severe cold with comradeship.”

“Let’s defend the Republic of Korea (South Korea) firmly on the basis of hot comradeship and strong combat power of the allies’ Marine Corps.”

South Korean forces are in the region in preparation to provide increased security at the 2018 Winter Games, where the host site, PyeongChang, is roughly 50 miles south of the heavily militarized border between North and South Korea.

According to Fox News, this has prompted some experts to fear a potential attack from the hermit kingdom during the Olympic games.

Over 400 police officers reportedly conducted drills, replicating tactics North Korea may try and employ during the Olympics such as a chemical weapon attack, hostage-taking and a drone armed with a bomb. This, as South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon stated, was done to ensure there were no “security loopholes” present.

These exercises come less than one month after U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley told members of the UN Security Council that recent North Korean missile tests have brought us “closer to war.”

As stated by Haley, “And if war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed.”

North Korean state media said it launched “the most powerful ICBM” mounted with a “super-large heavy warhead” in November.

The Hwasong-15 missile flew 2,800 miles into space, the highest altitude ever achieved by a North Korean missile, The Western Journal reported.

As reported by the U.K. Daily Mail, Sen. Lindsay Graham predicted in December that President Donald Trump would declare war on North Korea if the country was to continue engaging in reckless behavior.

“I would say there’s a three in 10 chance we use the military option,” Graham stated.

And most recently, the U.S. publicly announced that Kim Jong-Un’s regime was behind the massive “WannaCry” cyberattack that occurred in May.

On Monday, the Trump administration publicly announced that the regime was the mastermind behind the ransomware computer bug that affected over 230,000 computers in over 150 countries in May 2017.

Thomas P. Bossert, President Donald Trump’s homeland security and counter-terrorism adviser, stated in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, “The (WannaCry) attack was widespread and cost billions, and North Korea is directly responsible.”

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