SEOUL: Ongoing air drills with South Korea will “sharpen” their joint combat capabilities, the US military said Thursday, as the nuclear-armed North ramps up threats and a balloon blitz against Seoul.
Seoul and Washington’s air forces started around three weeks of joint drills Tuesday in Suwon, south of Seoul, involving US F/A-18 and F-35B combat aircraft.
The drills “will further sharpen our combat capabilities,” US Marine Lt. Col. Jarrod Allen said in a statement.
Joint US-South Korea drills typically infuriate Pyongyang, which views them as rehearsals for invasion, and the North is particularly sensitive to fighter jet exercises as experts say its air force is the weakest link in its military.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North sending thousands of trash-carrying balloons southwards and Seoul’s military blasting K-pop and anti-regime messages from border loudspeakers.
On Wednesday, the North said it was “fully ready for all-out confrontation with the US,” responding to comments by former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee for the November election, touting his ties to Kim Jong Un.
Trump said “I think he misses me” and it’s “nice to get along with somebody that has a lot of nuclear weapons.”
While in office Trump met with Kim three times, beginning with a landmark summit in Singapore in June 2018, but the pair failed to make much progress on efforts to denuclearise the North.
A few months after Singapore, Trump famously told a rally of his supporters that the two men had fallen “in love.”
But their second summit in Hanoi collapsed in 2019, over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.
In a commentary released on Wednesday, North Korea said while it was true Trump tried to reflect the “special personal relations” between the heads of states, the former US president “did not bring about any substantial positive change.”
“Even if any administration takes office in the US, the political climate, which is confused by the infighting of the two parties, does not change and, accordingly, we do not care about this,” it added.
US says air drills with South Korea will ‘sharpen’ capacity
https://arab.news/65peb
US says air drills with South Korea will ‘sharpen’ capacity
- Seoul and Washington’s air forces started around three weeks of joint drills Tuesday in Suwon, south of Seoul
- Joint US-South Korea drills typically infuriate Pyongyang, which views them as rehearsals for invasion
Philippines signs free trade pact with UAE
- UAE deal is Philippines’ fourth free trade pact, after South Korea, Japan, and EFTA
- Business body warns of uneven gains if domestic safeguard mechanisms insufficient
MANILLA: The Philippines signed on Tuesday a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the UAE, its first such deal with a Middle Eastern nation.
The Philippines and the UAE first agreed to explore a free trade pact in February 2022 and formalized the process with terms of reference in late 2023. Negotiations started in May 2024 and were finalized in 2025.
The CEPA signing was witnessed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. who led the Philippine delegation to Abu Dhabi.
“The CEPA is the Philippines’ first free trade pact with a Middle Eastern country, marking a milestone in expanding the nation’s global trade footprint,” Marcos’s office said.
“The agreement aims to reduce tariffs, enhance market access for goods and services, increase investment flows, and create new opportunities for Filipino professionals and service providers in the UAE.”
The UAE is home to some 700,000 Filipinos, the second-largest Filipino diaspora after Saudi Arabia.
With bilateral trade worth about $1.8 billion, it is also a key trading partner of the Philippines in the Middle East, and accounted for almost 39 percent of Philippine exports to the region in 2024.
The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry earlier estimated it would lead to at least 90 percent liberalization in tariffs and give the Philippines wider access to the GCC region.
“Preliminary studies indicate the CEPA could boost Philippine exports to the UAE by 9.13 percent, generate consumer savings, and strengthen overall trade linkages with the Gulf region,” Marcos’s office said.
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Makati expects the pact to bring stronger trade flows, capital and technology for renewable energy, infrastructure, food, and water security projects as long as domestic policy supports it.
“CEPA can serve as a trade accelerator and investment catalyst for the Philippines,” Nunnatus Cortez, the chamber’s chairman, told Arab News.
The pact could result in “expanding exports, attracting capital, diversifying economic partners, upgrading industries, and supporting long-term growth — provided the country actively supports exporters and converts provisions into concrete commercial outcomes,” said Cortez.
“The main downside risk of CEPA lies in domestic readiness. Without strong industrial policy, MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) support, safeguard mechanisms, and export development, CEPA could lead to import dominance, uneven gains, fiscal pressure, and limited structural transformation.”
The deal with the UAE is the Philippines’ fourth bilateral free trade pact, following agreements with South Korea, Japan, and the European Free Trade Association, which comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
