US, South Korea planning major military exercises amid tensions with North Korea

The U.S. and South Korea will launch an 11-day military exercise on the Korean Peninsula beginning next week as tensions continue to rise with North Korea after Pyongyang abandoned reconciliation with Seoul and has re-militarized the border.

Freedom Shield 2024 is set to run from March 4-14, U.S. Forces Korea said this week, and the drills will involve virtual and field training across multiple domains, including land, sea, air, space and cyber.

The drills will also focus on countering nuclear capabilities, which comes after North Korea has ramped up missile tests and increased its arsenal of nuclear weapons in recent years.

Several countries from United Nations Command, a group formed to protect South Korea, will also support the exercises — including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, France, the U.K., Greece, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand.

U.S. military spokesperson Col. Isaac Taylor said at a press conference that the military exercises will “increase interoperability and enhance the combined operation capabilities of the alliance.”

The exercises are likely to infuriate North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, who has reacted in the past to joint military drills with more aggression, including test-firing ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

Kim, who has drawn closer to Russia during its war in Ukraine and supplied Moscow with artillery and weapons, has moved even further from any hopes of a peaceful agreement with South Korea.

In January, Kim declared North Korea would no longer seek peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered the tearing down of a statue symbolizing that goal. He also is seeking to define South Korea as its most hostile foreign adversary in the constitution.

The tensions have also risen at the border after Kim launched a spy satellite into space last year, which led to the abandoning of a 2018 military reduction agreement and no-fly zone at the border.

North Korea has since restored border guard posts at the border.