Korea, US to shorten joint air drills to 1 week
Two U.S. F-16 fighter jets are spotted at an air base in Gwangju, about 265 kilometers south of Seoul, on April 17. Courtesy of Air Force
Korea's Air Force said Thursday a joint large-scale air exercise with the United States will be shortened to one week from the regular two weeks, given the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held next week here.
The Air Force said the semiannual Freedom Flag exercise was originally planned to be held for two weeks starting from Sept. 27.
But the two sides agreed to launch the joint drill after the APEC summit, scheduled to take place on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, for one week.
The Freedom Flag exercise was launched last year to replace regular large-scale air exercises between the allies — Korea Flying Training in the first half of the year and Vigilant Defense in the second half.