US Relaunches 'Decapitation' Exercises Against Kim Jong Un, North Korea

As North Korea denounces the United States’ move to allow House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to land in Taiwan, the United States and South Korea are reported on Wednesday to be planning a military exercise aimed at simulating the destruction of North Korea’s “kill chain” and dictator.

The military exercise between South Korea and the United States will be the first of its kind since 2017, and will reportedly focus on the systematic destruction of North Korea’s “kill chain”: these are its missile and nuclear bases, as well as the military bases that the country needs to be able to supply, refuel, and rearm its troops, according to the Daily Beast.

Although it is not an explicit goal of the program, the military exercise tends to end in a “decapitation” exercise where the two armies simulate the killing of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un; this causes the North Korean dictator much distress due to his fears of assassination, and he reportedly acts out in shows of power whenever one is slated to occur.

“Decapitation is a mission to capture or kill a high-value target, e.g., manhunting,” retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel David Maxwell said. “If you get the head of the military forces (which is Kim Jong Un), theoretically you gut the head of the snake.”

The exercise has been agreed upon by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup over the weekend, which aligns with the policies of South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol, who promised to improve relations with the United States after the strained period under predecessor Moon Jae-in.

Despite attempts by the Trump administration to broker a better relationship with North Korea, the two countries’ relations have deteriorated again over the past few years. As recently as Wednesday, a North Korean official denounced U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, calling it an “imprudent interference” in China’s affairs, Reuters reported.

“It is the due right of a sovereign state to take counter measures against the moves of the outside forces openly interfering in its internal affairs and destroying its territorial integrity,” an unidentified North Korean official said about the situation.