S. Korea, US stage joint special operations forces drills

South Korea and U.S. special operations forces take part in a combined two-week military exercise at an undisclosed location, Dec. 18. Courtesy of the U.S. Forces Korea

South Korea and the United States have recently staged a combined special operations exercise, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Monday, amid joint efforts to reinforce deterrence against North Korean military threats.

The two-week exercise mobilized U.S. Army Special Forces Green Berets and a U.S. Navy SEAL team of the U.S. Special Operations Command Korea, as well as South Korean troops from the Army's Special Warfare Command and police officers from the Special Operations Unit, according to the USFK in a Facebook post.

"The event culminated with a full mission profile exercise in an urban-environment training range with the intent of recovering time sensitive targets in a dynamic training environment," it said, without disclosing the exercise's exact date and location.

The exercise's disclosure came amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the East Sea earlier in the day.

The latest launch took place less than a day after the North launched a short-range ballistic missile into the water the previous day. (Yonhap)