South Korea, US Military Drills to Strengthen Readiness Against North Korea

SEOUL — South Korean and US troops will begin their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises next Monday to strengthen readiness against North Korean threats, the allies announced, days after North Korea resumed ballistic missile testing activities banned by the United Nations.

The 11-day drill will involve about 18,000 South Korean soldiers, with a scale similar to previous years. US military spokesperson Ryan Donald said the exercise incorporates realistic threats including “lessons from recent conflicts,” citing North Korea’s dispatch of troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine. “That changes the DPRK capability and our training accounts for that threat,” he said.

The announcement follows North Korea’s short-range ballistic missile launch on Thursday, its first ballistic testing since late June, which South Korea and Japan condemned as a provocation. Multiple UN Security Council resolutions ban North Korea from ballistic activities.

North Korea has consistently described US-South Korean military drills as practice for invasion and responded with provocative tests. South Korean and US officials have said the exercises are defensive in nature.

North Korea has been expanding its nuclear and missile arsenals since leader Kim Jong Un’s diplomacy with President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019. Its troop and ammunition supply to Russia has raised concerns that Moscow may have transferred sensitive technologies to Pyongyang, while experts say the deployment has given North Korean forces crucial battlefield experience.

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