Field Training Exercises During FS Scaled Back Compared With Last Year
"Aimed at Creating Conditions for North Korea-U.S. Dialogue"
South Korea and the United States will conduct Freedom Shield (FS), a theater-level combined exercise designed to prepare for a contingency on the Korean Peninsula, from March 9 to 19.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a press release the same day that "the FS exercise is a defensive drill that South Korea and the United States conduct on an annual basis."
Regarding the significance of this FS exercise, the Joint Chiefs of Staff explained that "by reflecting realistic conditions such as the results of recent training analyses and a challenging battlespace environment in the exercise scenarios, it will serve as an opportunity to strengthen the combined defense posture of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, including combined and joint all-domain operations, and to continue advancing preparations for the conditions-based transition of wartime operational control agreed upon by South Korea and the United States."
The South Korean and U.S. military authorities conduct the FS exercise every March and the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, a command post exercise (CPX), every August. The FS and UFS exercises, which assume an all-out war on the Korean Peninsula, also serve as occasions to assess and verify whether the conditions for the transition of wartime operational control have been met.
During the FS exercise period, South Korea and the United States will also conduct field training exercises (FTX) linked to the command post exercise scenarios. This year’s field training exercises during the FS period are reported to have been scaled back compared with last year.
This appears to reflect views within the government, including those of Unification Minister Chung Dongyoung, that the exercises should be adjusted ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to China in late March to early April in order to create conditions for resuming dialogue between North Korea and the United States.
As in previous years, member states of the United Nations Command will also take part in this FS exercise, and the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission will monitor compliance with the Armistice Agreement during the exercise period. North Korea, which has long reacted sensitively to South Korea-U.S. combined exercises by calling them rehearsals for an invasion of the North, is also expected to protest this FS exercise.
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