Korea, U.S. to begin Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise next week

South Korea and the United States will soon conduct one of their biggest military exercises of the year to improve their ability to respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

Col. Lee Sung-jun, left, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, joins hands with Col. Isaac Taylor, public affairs director for the U.S. Forces Korea, on Monday at the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan District, central Seoul, during a joint press briefing announcing the upcoming Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise. [YONHAP]

South Korea and the United States will soon conduct one of their biggest military exercises of the year to improve their ability to respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) training will start next Monday and run for 11 days through Aug. 31 based on scenarios that reflect evolving security situations, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced Monday.

For the first time ever, the U.S. Space Force, a branch within the U.S. military responsible for global space operations, will participate in the UFS.

Col. Lee Sung-jun, spokesperson for the JCS, said in a joint press briefing with U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) on Monday at the Ministry of National Defense in central Seoul that the total number of participating personnel will be greater than the previous UFS and Freedom Shield (FS) exercise.

During this year’s UFS, some 30 combined field training events will take place, more than the 13 held in last year’s UFS and the 25 during the latest FS exercise last spring.

In a press release, USFK explained that all United Nations Command member countries are scheduled to participate, with 10 members providing additional exercise augmentees: Australia, Canada, France, Britain, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand and the United States.

The Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, comprising Sweden and Switzerland, will observe and monitor the exercise, fulfilling duties prescribed by the Armistice Agreement, said the USFK.

The UFS exercise comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for a “drastic boost” of the regime’s missile production capacity, according to Pyongyang’s state media on Monday.

In an English-language report, the Korean Central News Agency said that Kim visited “major munitions factories” on Friday and Saturday, stressing the need to “mass-produce missiles as required by the system of the expanded and strengthened frontline units and missile units and by the operational plans.”

During the visit, Kim was quoted as saying that the North Korean military “should have an overwhelming military force and get fully prepared for coping with any war at any moment so as to prevent the enemies from daring use their armed forces, and surely annihilate them if they launch an attack.”

North Korea has often responded strongly to combined military exercises between Seoul and Washington, labeling them a front to practice invasion and preemptive attack.

Pyongyang has frequently used the occasion to test ballistic missiles, fueling speculation that another test might occur later this month.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]