Another March is coming up which means another major US-ROK military exercise:
Col. Lee Sung-jun, left, the spokesperson for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, bumps fists with his U.S. counterpart Col. Isaac Taylor, the U.S. Forces Korea spokesperson, during a press conference at the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan District, Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Ministry of National Defense
South Korea and the United States will conduct their annual Freedom Shield exercise from March 4 to 14 to strengthen their combined defensive posture against North Korea’s escalating threats, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, Wednesday.
During a press briefing, the JCS said the 11-day non-stop exercise will be “a realistic exercise to strengthen the allies’ combined defense capabilities based on scenarios reflecting diverse security threats and lessons learned from recent wars.”
“It will be focusing on conducting multi-domain operations, using land, sea, air, cyber and space assets as well as countering North Korea’s nuclear operations,” the JCS said.
Freedom Shield is a large-scale combined military exercise between the allies held annually in March. In August, the allies also conduct the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which is held jointly with the South Korean government’s interagency training called Ulchi Exercise.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but expect North Korea to conduct their own provocations in response to the Freedom Shield exercise.
Here is an update of one of the events occurring as part of the Freedom Shield exercise that has North Korea so upset:
South Korea and the United States are conducting combined high-tech military drills with increased “intensity and realism,” the Army here said Monday, as part of joint efforts to bolster deterrence against growing North Korean threats.
The drills are under way at the Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC), a facility employing cutting-edge technologies for realistic ground drills, in Inje, 165 kilometers east of Seoul. The maneuvers are to run through Friday, in connection with the allies’ ongoing Freedom Shield exercise.
For the drills, the U.S. military deployed a battalion-size unit for the first time. The South mobilized wheeled-armored vehicles and reconnaissance drones, while the U.S. brought Stryker armored vehicles and other assets.
The latest drills are divided into two three-day parts of separate defense and attack operations to heighten its “intensity and realism,” according to the armed service. Previous KCTC sessions were held for four days in total.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
