The United States and South Korea will start their regular joint military exercise on Monday aimed at preparing for a contingency on the Korean Peninsula.
The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise in South Korea will run through August 27. The drills will include responses to possible drone strikes and cyberattacks in view of North Korea’s dispatches of its troops to Russia.
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency says field maneuvers will be on a smaller scale than last year.
The South Korean military says it conducts exercises in a well-balanced manner year-round to sustain its defense posture and improve its capability.
But since the inauguration in June last year of the administration of President Lee Jae Myung, who seeks to hold dialogue with North Korea, the military has been dispersing drills.
North Korea’s foreign ministry issued a comment on the joint drills on Friday, saying Pyongyang will express more clearly its stance of rejecting any threat or challenge by exercising the right to self-defense.
North Korea has reacted sharply to joint exercises by the US and South Korea. In March, it launched ballistic missiles during US-South Korean military drills. What appears to have been a ballistic missile was also fired on August 6 and 12.
The US and South Korean militaries are stepping up vigilance and surveillance of the North.