SEOUL, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The United States and South Korea will kick off a major joint military exercise this month, both countries announced Thursday, with a focus on deterring North Korea's growing threats amid unrequited diplomatic outreach from Seoul.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise will take place Aug. 18-28 and will incorporate "realistic threats, including lessons learned from recent conflicts ... to further strengthen the Alliance's readiness and capabilities through combined, joint, all-domain operations," the militaries said in a joint statement.
The exercise will include live field maneuvers, computer simulation-based command post exercises and related civil defense drills.
"This iteration of UFS 25 will be executed on a similar scale to the previous iteration," Col. Lee Sung-jun, spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a joint press briefing in Seoul on Thursday.
Some 18,000 South Korean troops will take part, Lee said. U.S. Forces Korea did not disclose the number of participating troops.
