South Korea and the United States will hold large-scale military drills this month aimed at strengthening their joint combat readiness in light of growing military threats from North Korea, the allies said today, quoted by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
The annual "Ulchi Freedom Shield" exercises (Ulchi Freedom Shield, UFS) will be held from August 18 to 28 and will include realistic threat training to improve the allies' capabilities in all areas, the militaries of both sides said.
This year's maneuvers will see some changes - 20 of the 40 training tasks will be postponed to September, a spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff told a briefing today, quoted by Reuters.
The decision to change the schedule was mainly dictated by extreme weather conditions, he said, denying that there were political factors behind it.
This year's exercise will test the response of the militaries of both sides to increased nuclear threats from North Korea, as well as the most advanced technologies used in modern warfare, the spokesman said, citing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. The exercise will include a missile launch scenario from North Korea, but will not cover a potential nuclear test by Pyongyang, he added.