US, South Korea to Hold 11-Day Ulchi Freedom Shield Drill From August 17
Seoul and Washington will run the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise from August 17-27, with 18,000 South Korean troops, to counter North Korean threats.
South Korean and U.S. forces will launch their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise on August 17, running for 11 days until August 27, officials announced on Monday. The drill comes days after North Korea resumed ballistic missile testing for the first time since late June.
Speaking at a joint briefing in Seoul, South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff public affairs director Jang Do-young confirmed that approximately 18,000 South Korean soldiers will take part, a scale similar to previous years' iterations of the exercise.
Ryan Donald, public affairs director for U.S. Forces Korea, described UFS 26 as a defensive exercise that integrates realistic threats and lessons drawn from recent conflicts. He said the training is designed to strengthen the alliance's readiness for combined, joint, all-domain operations and to support preparations for conditions-based wartime operational control transition, in line with existing alliance agreements.
Donald specifically pointed to North Korean troops deployed to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. "DPRK soldiers have been deployed and fought in Ukraine, and they've taken those lessons they learned there and brought them back to North Korea," he said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name. "That changes the DPRK capability, and our training accounts for that threat."
The UFS drill is one of two major combined exercises the allies conduct annually, alongside springtime training. U.S. military officials said the exercise will feature live, virtual, constructive, and field-based training components.
North Korea has not yet commented on the announcement. Historically, Pyongyang has condemned such drills as invasion rehearsals and has responded with weapons tests and hostile rhetoric. South Korean and U.S. officials maintain the exercises are defensive in nature.
The announcement follows a short-range ballistic missile launch by North Korea last Thursday, detected jointly by South Korea, the U.S., and Japan. The missile landed in waters off North Korea's east coast. Both Seoul and Tokyo condemned the launch, noting that U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korean ballistic activity.
North Korea has continued to expand its nuclear and missile programs since high-level diplomacy between leader Kim Jong Un and former U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019. Analysts suggest Kim believes a larger arsenal will strengthen his position in any future negotiations with Washington.