S. Korea, US wrap up key joint military exercise against NK threats
South Korea and the United States wrapped up a major annual combined military exercise aimed at bolstering their defense capabilities against North Korean military threats Thursday, the South's military said.
The computer-simulated Freedom Shield exercise drew to an end after an 11-day run in the face of North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats and deepening military cooperation with Russia.
This year's exercise marked the first major military exercise by the allies since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January, with the US military having reaffirmed its security commitment to South Korea.
For this year's exercise, South Korea deployed some 19,000 troops, and the allies staged expanded on-field drills to enhance their interoperability, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The exercise involved drills across the land, sea, air cyber and space domains, with South Korea's Strategic Command and the naval Task Fleet Command joining the joint exercise for the first time.
"By reflecting realistic threats, such as changes in the North Korean military's strategy, tactics and forces, learned from Russia and North Korea's military cooperation and various armed conflicts, South Korea and the US could enhance the alliance's combined defense posture and response capabilities through realistic training," the JCS said.
JCS Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo held in-depth discussions with the chief of the Combined Forces Command on the impact of Pyongyang and Moscow's military cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, it added.
North Korea has long condemned the allies' joint drills as a rehearsal for an invasion against and has a track record of staging weapons tests in response.
The North released a barrage of statements denouncing the joint drills as a "dangerous provocative act" and fired several ballistic missiles, believed to be close-range ones, on the first day of the exercise. But it did not carry out major provocations, such as the firing of a long-range ballistic missiles, this year.
Freedom Shield is one of the allies' two major annual exercises that train troops based on an all-out war scenario. The other exercise -- Ulchi Freedom Shield -- usually takes place in August.
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