South Korea and the United States will conduct their annual joint military drills next month, the Combined Forces Command (CFC) said Tuesday, amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula following repeated threats against the exercises from North Korea.
The computerized command post exercise, called Key Resolve, will be held from March 2-13 to improve the combined forces' operation and combat capabilities to deter threats from the North, according to the CFC.
The two-week war game will involve about 10,000 South Korean and 8,600 American troops to test various scenarios in which South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff plays a leading role in conducting operations, South Korea's News Agency (Yonhap) reported.
"It is important to maintain our high level of proficiency on key tasks while exercising different scenarios," CFC commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti said in a statement. "Exercising our multinational force is an important component of readiness and is fundamental to sustaining and strengthening the alliance." Separately, the allies are scheduled to hold the field training exercise Foal Eagle, which involves a set of land, sea and air maneuvers, from March 2 to April 24.
The two-month tactical training will mobilize about 200,000 Korean and 3,700 American troops, mostly from overseas.
Five countries, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, and Britain, are scheduled to participate in the exercises, with the Neutral Supervisory Commission to observe and monitor them to ensure they do not break the armistice agreement signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The large-scale annual drills are expected to further heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with Pyongyang issuing near-daily threats of harsh retaliation of "hostile" forces.