SEOUL, Aug 22 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea and the United States, today, kicked off their annual military exercise, involving large-scale field manoeuvres that had been suspended for the past two years.
The Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, a newly-named summertime military exercise involving field manoeuvres, would last through Sept 1, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
The JCS said, the UFS exercise is defensive in nature, as it has been annually staged, but the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) denounced the exercise as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion.
The UFS exercise will involve large-scale field manoeuvres that had not been staged for the past two years, under the previous South Korean government, for peace drive with the DPRK.
JCS noted, the field manoeuvres were aimed to ensure the condition of a stable push for transition of wartime operational control, through assessment of full operational capability.
South Korea and the United States have agreed upon the conditions-based transfer of wartime operational control, over South Korean troops from Washington to Seoul.
South Korea’s wartime command was handed over to U.S.-led UN command after the 1950-53 Korean War broke out. South Korea won back its peacetime operational control in 1994.
Before the UFS exercise, the two allies conducted preliminary drills last week, to practice procedures to respond to possible pre-war crisis scenarios.– NNN-YONHAP
