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U.S., South Korea to start large-scale joint military drills Aug. 18
1 of 3 | South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Col. Lee Sung-jun (L) and U.S. Forces Korea spokesman Col. Ryan Donald hold a press briefing at Seoul's Defense Ministry on Thursday to announce the upcoming Ulchi Freedom Shield 25 joint military exercise. The exercise will take place from Aug. 18-28. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
SEOUL, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The United States and South Korea will kick off a major joint military exercise this month, both countries announced Thursday, with a focus on deterring North Korea's growing threats amid unrequited diplomatic outreach from Seoul.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise will take place Aug. 18-28 and will incorporate "realistic threats, including lessons learned from recent conflicts ... to further strengthen the Alliance's readiness and capabilities through combined, joint, all-domain operations," the militaries said in a joint statement.
The exercise will include live field maneuvers, computer simulation-based command post exercises and related civil defense drills.
"This iteration of UFS 25 will be executed on a similar scale to the previous iteration," Col. Lee Sung-jun, spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a joint press briefing in Seoul on Thursday.
Some 18,000 South Korean troops will take part, Lee said. U.S. Forces Korea did not disclose the number of participating troops.
The exercise comes as the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is attempting to improve frayed relations with Pyongyang, which frequently condemns the allies' joint drills as rehearsals for an invasion.
Col. Lee said that roughly half of the 40 planned field training exercises will be rescheduled to next month, but dismissed any political motives behind the decision.
"The military has comprehensively assessed based on multiple factors, including ensuring training conditions due to the recent heat wave, as well as maintaining a balanced ROK-U.S. combined readiness posture ... and made the decision to reschedule certain training events to next month," Lee said.
"Any training events linked to the combined exercise scenario as well as [those] having any deployed assets or personnel to the Peninsula by the U.S. will proceed as planned," he added.
North Korea, which has strengthened military ties with Russia and continues to develop its nuclear and missile programs, will be a focus of the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, U.S. Forces Korea spokesman Col. Ryan Donald said at the briefing.
"We'll work to deter and defeat the DPRK's various threats, such as their weapons of mass destruction," Donald said, using the official acronym for North Korea.
The training will draw on information from ongoing military conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, he said, as well as the military cooperation between Russia and North Korea.
"We take those lessons learned from the modern battlefield and incorporate that," Donald said. "We are focused on assuring the alliance remains strategically sustainable, credibly deters aggression from the DPRK and addresses broader regional challenges."
The exercise will also address threats from terrorism, drones, GPS jamming and cyberattacks, both officials said. It will include a scenario on a North Korean missile launch but would not cover nuclear use by Pyongyang, Lee added.
North Korea has not yet publicly commented on this year's exercise. Last week, Kim Yo Jong -- the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Yo Jong -- condemned Seoul's "blind trust" in its military alliance with Washington and rejected efforts by the Lee Jae Myung administration to improve relations.
In their joint statement released Thursday, the allies stressed that the exercise is "defensive in nature."
In addition to U.S. and South Korean forces, personnel from other member countries of the United Nations Command will join the exercise, while the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission will observe to monitor compliance with the Armistice Agreement.
The U.S.-led UNC plays a key role in maintaining and enforcing the armistice agreement that halted fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War, with duties that include controlling DMZ access and communicating with the North Korean military.
