SEOUL, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The United States and South Korea kicked off their annual summertime joint military exercise on Monday, amid efforts by Seoul to improve relations with North Korea.
The 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which runs through Aug. 28, includes live field maneuvers, computer simulation-based command post exercises and related civil defense drills. Some 21,000 troops will be mobilized, including 18,000 South Korean personnel.
Pyongyang, which routinely condemns the allies' joint drills as rehearsals for an invasion, last week warned of "negative consequences" and held its own artillery firing contest.
The North will "strictly exercise the sovereign right of the DPRK at the level of the right to self-defense in a case of any provocation going beyond the boundary line," Defense Minister No Kwang Choi said in a statement.
Related
