S. Korea, US to begin key summertime military exercise next week

Joint Chiefs of Staff Cpt. Jang Do-young, left, speaks alongside U.S. Forces Korea Col. Ryan Donald during a joint press briefing on the Freedom Shield 2026 combined exercise at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, Feb. 25. Joint Press Corps

South Korea and the United States will begin a major combined military exercise next week, their militaries said Monday, as they are in preparations for Seoul's retaking of wartime command from Washington.

The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise will take place from Aug. 17-27, in a bid to bolster their joint defense readiness, drills widely viewed as contingency training against North Korea.

The UFS will be held by incorporating "realistic" threats, and to "further strengthen the allies' readiness and capabilities through combined, joint, all-domain operations," the allies' militaries said in a joint statement.

South Korea and the U.S. hold two large-scale combined exercises every year, the Freedom Shield (FS) in spring and the UFS in summer.

The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the upcoming UFS exercise will "serve as an opportunity to support ongoing preparations for a conditions-based wartime operational control (OPCON) transition."

The UFS is regarded as a testing ground where the allies can evaluate South Korea's capabilities to lead the combined forces once Seoul retakes wartime OPCON from Washington. The allies are in the second phase of a three-stage plan agreed upon by both sides for the OPCON handover.

A local news outlet reported last week that this year's UFS will not involve training in which the South Korean deputy commander of the Combined Forces Command (CFC) takes over the role of the CFC commander, currently led by the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander.

The report renewed speculation over U.S. reservations about the OPCON transfer, amid a view that the allies have a growing gap over the timing of the OPCON transition.

South Korea is seeking to complete the OPCON transition before President Lee Jae Myung's term ends in 2030, or even at an earlier date, while the U.S. has stressed strictly verifying the conditions first rather than rushing the process out of political considerations.

"We are in close consultations with the U.S. side to periodically conduct combined exercises led by the future CFC, commanded by a South Korean four-star general, and will review the implementation timing following this year's FOC validation," the JCS said. FOC refers to the second stage of the OPCON transfer evaluation.

The USFK said it has not received a request from South Korea regarding command responsibilities during this year's UFS.

The allies will also conduct field training exercises, dubbed the Warrior Shield, linked to the simulation-based exercise scenarios essential to the defense of South Korea to enhance training realism and combat readiness, the JCS said.

The allies reportedly plan to hold 14 such field training drills at the battalion level or higher, down from 39 drills held at the battalion or company levels during the 2025 UFS.

The JCS said the allies are conducting essential field training exercises in a "balanced" manner through close bilateral coordination.

The Lee administration has spread out the field training throughout the year, in a departure from the previous conservative government that carried out the drills extensively during the combined exercises.

This shift is seen as an effort to ease tensions and preserve room for dialogue with Pyongyang.

North Korea has denounced the exercises as war rehearsals and responded with its own weapons tests in a show of protest. The allies have maintained the drills are strictly defensive in nature.

Pyongyang launched Friday what the South's military has identified as a short-range ballistic missile, in an apparent response to the upcoming UFS.

The upcoming UFS will also incorporate "lessons learned from recent conflicts," the JCS said, suggesting that the exercise will feature modern warfare scenarios from the war in Ukraine and other regional clashes, including the Middle East conflict.

Consistent with the past drills, the UFS will also support interagency coordination across the South Korean government to strengthen national emergency readiness, protect public safety and advance a whole-of-government approach to wartime defense, the JCS said.

The United Nations Command (UNC), which administers the Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, will send around 70 additional personnel from 12 of its 18 member states to participate in this year's UFS, a UNC official said.

UNC Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Scott Winter said in a media roundtable last week that the UNC is interested in supporting the drills in new domains, such as cyber and information.

The Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission will observe the exercise to monitor compliance with the armistice agreement.