South Korea, US to launch major war games

South Korea and the United States will hold their annual spring joint military exercise next month, the allies said on February 25, even as they remain in talks over the scope of associated field training drills.

The 11-day Freedom Shield exercise is set to run from March 9 to 19 and will include the field training component known as “Warrior Shield,” Caliber.Az reports per South Korean media.

Military officials said the drills are aimed at strengthening the allies’ combined defence posture through joint, all-domain operations across land, sea, air, cyber and space.

In a joint statement, the two sides said the exercise would also support preparations for the eventual transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean forces from Washington to Seoul — a long-running objective for the alliance.

Seoul is seeking a “conditions-based” transfer of OPCON within President Lee Jae Myung’s single five-year term, which ends in 2030. As part of that process, the allies have agreed to complete verification of South Korea’s Full Operational Capability (FOC) — the second phase of a three-stage assessment programme — by the end of this year.

A Joint Chiefs of Staff official said this year’s Freedom Shield will be conducted on a scale similar to 2025, involving around 18,000 troops.

However, some field training activities could be scaled back compared with last year, according to officials familiar with the discussions. The allies are still coordinating the scope and frequency of on-field drills and hope to finalise details before the exercise begins.

During last August’s Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, nearly half of roughly 40 planned field drills were postponed until later in the year. The move was widely seen as part of Seoul’s effort to ease tensions with North Korea amid strained inter-Korean relations.

This year, South Korean officials have proposed minimising field training during the Freedom Shield period, though US officials have reportedly expressed reservations, noting that some American military assets have already been deployed.

The drills come at a sensitive diplomatic moment. Seoul is seeking to foster conditions conducive to a potential resumption of dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang, ahead of a planned summit in April between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Pyongyang has long condemned joint US-South Korean military exercises as rehearsals for invasion, a charge both allies reject, describing the drills as defensive and routine.

Freedom Shield in March and Ulchi Freedom Shield in August form the backbone of the allies’ annual combined training cycle. Built around a full-scale conflict scenario, the exercises also serve to test whether the conditions have been met for the long-anticipated transfer of wartime operational control to Seoul.