South Korea and the United States will begin their combined Freedom Shield military exercises next week.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command on Wednesday said the annual Freedom Shield exercises will be held from Monday to March 14.

The JCS said that during the period, the allies will hold a variety of combined field training exercises in the sea, land and air to increase interoperability and enhance the combined operation capabilities of the alliance. 

The two sides plan to carry out computer simulation-based command post exercises as well as joint field training and other maneuvers. 

The JCS said that the planned exercises will focus on operations utilizing land, sea, air, cyber and space assets and neutralizing North Korean threats, based on scenarios that reflect diverse security threats, which will further strengthen the combined defense posture.

The JCS added that some member states of the United Nations Command(UNC) will participate in the drills and the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission(NNSC) will observe them.