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South Korea, U.S. to kick off major springtime military exercise next week

Published: 07 Mar. 2025, 12:03

Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun, left, and U.S. Forces Korea spokesperson Col. Ryan Donald speak at a joint press briefing for the Freedom Shield exercise at the JCS headquarters in central Seoul on March 6. [YONHAP]

South Korea and the United States will begin a key annual joint military exercise next week to enhance their combined defense capabilities against North Korean military threats, the allies said in a joint press briefing on Thursday.

The Freedom Shield exercise will take place Monday through March 20, involving computer-simulated drills and on-field training, according to a joint statement from the two countries' militaries.

“ROK and U.S. units will execute combined joint all-domain live field training exercises across the land, sea, air, cyber and space domains integrated within the exercise scenarios to strengthen interoperability,” it said, using the acronym of South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

The exercise will help the allies strengthen their combined defense posture amid “realistic threats” and evolving challenges, including North Korea's growing military cooperation with Russia, it noted.

South Korea will deploy some 19,000 troops for the exercise, with the two sides planning to stage 16 large-scale on-field drills, up from 10 last year, according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

Next week's drills will mark the allies' first major military exercise since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January.

In a joint press conference, the U.S. military reaffirmed its security commitment to South Korea, when asked if the alliance could be shaken under Trump, who has previously criticized such drills as “expensive” war games.

“The ironclad commitment to the ROK is strong as ever. We are fully in Freedom Shield 2025. What we are doing right now is building our readiness, capabilities to defend the ROK against any threat,” Col. Ryan Donald, spokesperson for the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), said.

JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun said the allies' training would focus on measures to cope with North Korea's growing nuclear threats but did not confirm whether the exercise would involve a scenario of the North using nuclear weapons.

He also said the exercise will include a martial law scenario but noted it would be modified to focus on military measures. The changes appear to reflect public backlash against impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed attempt to impose martial law early in December.

When asked about possible changes to ongoing efforts for the transfer of wartime operational control to South Korea under the new U.S. administration, the USFK spokesperson declined to answer.

Lee, however, said that efforts for the transfer are currently underway, noting a joint evaluation will take place during the upcoming exercise.

South Korea handed over operational control of its troops to the U.S.-led U.N. Command during the 1950-53 Korean War. Wartime operational control remains with the U.S., while South Korea retook peacetime operational control in 1994.

North Korea has long denounced the allies' joint military drills as rehearsals for an invasion against it and could respond by engaging in weapons tests, such as missile launches. South Korea and the U.S. have said their exercises are defensive in nature.

On Tuesday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korea's leader, threatened a military response to the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier in South Korea earlier this week.

North Korea has often reacted furiously to the deployment of key U.S. military hardware to South Korea, accusing Washington of heightening tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Freedom Shield is one of the allies' two major annual exercises that train troops based on an all-out war scenario. The other exercise — Ulchi Freedom Shield — usually takes place in August.

Yonhap