"Warrior Shield" becomes "Freedom Shield": Together with South Korea, the USA start another military exercise. The operations, which last eleven days, can be seen as a deterrent to North Korea.
Despite threats from North Korea, the US and its ally South Korea plan to hold new military exercises this month. The US Forces Korea (USFK) said the commando exercise "Freedom Shield" will begin on March 13 and last 11 days without interruption. Exercises in the field should therefore also be integrated into the staff frame exercise, which is based on computer simulations.
Various field exercises codenamed "Warrior Shield FTX" are already underway, a USFK spokesman said. Further training sessions would also run during "Freedom Shield". It was initially unclear how many soldiers would be deployed. The purpose of the exercises is to improve military cooperation between the armed forces of both countries through "air, land, sea, space, cyber and special operations," it said.
The United States has deployed 28,500 troops in South Korea to deter North Korea. Like Japan, the US is also putting South Korea under its nuclear umbrella. North Korea, isolated because of its nuclear weapons program, had recently threatened tough countermeasures if the United States and South Korea held further military exercises. Observers saw this as an indication of a new series of missile tests or a new nuclear test.
Washington and Seoul have denied all allegations by Pyongyang that the maneuvers are preparing for an attack. The conflict on the Korean peninsula has become much more explosive since last year. Despite being banned by UN resolutions, North Korea has increased the scope and speed of its missile tests. South Korea and the USA resumed their maneuvers in full.
