South Korea and the United States kicked off their largest-ever annual joint military drills on Wednesday.
 
The Foal Eagle exercises will continue until the end of next month, while the Key Resolve exercises will start next week.
 
Core strategic assets of the U.S. will be deployed to the exercises, including the USS Carl Vinson, which is the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier equipped with about 60 carrier-borne aircraft.
 
U.S. Marine’s F-35B stealth fighter jets in Japan will reportedly be dispatched to the drills for the first time.
 
F-22 stealth fighter jets, and B-1B and B-52 bombers are also expected to join the exercises.
 
Last year, about 300-thousand troops from South Korea and some ten thousand U.S. troops participated in the Foal Eagle drills.
 

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