S. Korea, US to stage annual military exercise next week
Defense chiefs hold phone talks over N. Korea, Russia
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 will also conduct the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which is held jointly with the South Korean government’s interagency training called Ulchi Exercise.
Freedom Shield is a computer-simulated, defense-oriented and command post exercise event, featuring live simulations of war scenarios.
During the exercise, the allies also conduct field drills, which have expanded under the current Yoon Suk Yeol administration.
During next month’s training, the allies will conduct 48 rounds of field training drills throughout South Korea, which is more than double those of last year’s edition. Also, training for tracking and intercepting North Korean cruise missiles is included in this year’s program, given that Pyongyang has already fired cruise missiles five times this year.
“There will be a variety of combined field training exercises in sealand-air to increase interoperability and enhance the combined operation capabilities of the alliance,” the JCS said.
It remains unknown whether the U.S. will send its nuclear assets such as strategic bombers or nuclear submarines to the Korean Peninsula during the exercise.
Some member states of the United Nations Command will participate in the drills, and the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission will observe them.
South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin held a phone conversation, Wednesday, reaffirming the importance of close coordination between their nations to maintain an overwhelming combined defense posture against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
During their talks, they also shared concerns over North Korea’s supply of munitions and missiles to Russia.
“They shared concerns that the illegal weapons trade and stronger military cooperation between Russia and North Korea are serious threats not only to the Korean Peninsula but also to global peace and stability, and pledged to firmly respond in coordination with the international community,” the South Korean defense ministry said in a press release.
During a press conference on Monday, Shin said that the North has shipped about 6,700 containers carrying munitions to Russia since July 2023 to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, in exchange for approximately 10,000 containers of food and other necessities.
“If those munitions are 152-millimeter rounds, the amount would be more than 3 million rounds,” Shin said. “The operating rate of North’s munition plants remains at around 30 percent, but those producing munitions heading to Russia are in full operation.”