South Korea and the United States will hold an annual joint military exercise for 11 days later this month to strengthen their combined defensive posture, the countries announced Friday, as North Korea continues to develop ballistic missiles.
The Freedom Shield exercise is scheduled to take place between March 13 and 23 without a break, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Forces Korea.
"Freedom Shield is designed to strengthen defense and response capabilities of the alliance by focusing within the exercise scenario on things such as, the changing security environment, DPRK aggression and lessons learned from recent wars and conflicts," JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung Jun said at a joint press briefing.
DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
When asked about the possibility of provocative acts by North Korea during the exercise, Lee said the allies will remain in a "firm" readiness posture.
USFK spokesperson Col. Isaac L. Taylor added that the joint drill will provide a great opportunity to show how ironclad the South Korea-U.S. alliance is.
The allies have been holding the Teak Knife special military exercise since last month, involving the first deployment of an AC-130J gunship by the United States on the Korean Peninsula as well as MC-130J multi-mission combat transport aircraft.
