S. Korea, US Launch Combined Military Exercise

South Korea and the United States kicked off a major combined military exercise for its 11-day run Monday to bolster their joint defense readiness amid advancing North Korean military threats. The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, which runs through Aug. 29, got under way in the face of growing concerns over Pyongyang's continued weapons development, highlighted by its launches of 37 ballistic missiles this year alone and heightened cross-border tensions from the North's recent trash balloon campaign. Based on an all-out war scenario, the UFS features main computer simulation-based command post exercise, concurrent field training and civil defense drills, according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). While the exercise will be similar in scale to the previous year, involving around 19,000 South Korean troops, it will include 48 field training events, such as amphibious landing and live-fire drills, up from 38 field events conducted last year. The number of brigade-level exercises will als o increase to 17 this year, compared with four from the previous year, according to (Yonhap) news agency. The JCS said the exercise will further strengthen the allies' capability and readiness to respond to any provocations and defend against North Korea's weapons of mass destruction by conducting multi-domain exercises utilizing a variety of assets, including land, sea, air, cyber and space. During the exercise period, the government-led Ulchi civil defense drill will involve a scenario simulating a North Korean nuclear attack for the first time, a source said, while the joint military exercise will not incorporate such a scenario. North Korea has long denounced the allies' joint exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion against it and has a track record of staging weapons tests in response. On Sunday, the Institute for American Studies of the North Korean foreign ministry condemned the Ulchi exercise as the "most offensive and provocative war drills for aggression" in a statement carried by the Korean Ce ntral News Agency. Source: Qatar News Agency