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An RC-12X Guardrail spy plane lands at the US base of Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on March 3, 2024, one day before the joint South Korea-US Freedom Shield exercises were set to kick off. American Apache attack helicopters sit on the field next to the runway. (Yonhap)

South Korea and the US began the joint Freedom Shield military exercises on Monday. The joint exercises are scheduled to last until March 14. With North Korea regularly criticizing the drills as war games for practicing an invasion of North Korea, the joint exercises may trigger Pyongyang to respond with additional missile launches and military surveillance satellites, which would further escalate tensions on the peninsula. 

South Korea and the US announced the schedule for Freedom Shield on Wednesday. Statements from both sides indicated a variety of exercises that would utilize multi-domain operations, using land, sea, air, cyber, and space assets, with a focus on countering North Korea’s nuclear operations. The exercises focus on nuclear deterrence, but do not include scenarios where Pyongyang uses a nuclear weapon. Joint exercises scheduled for this August are expected to operate under similar scenarios. 

Originally, Freedom Shield was planned as a command post exercise (CPX) conducted exclusively through computer simulations, designed to bolster operational plans and test commanders’ responses to certain situations. However, South Korea and the US are expected to conduct live field maneuvers that focus on detecting and intercepting North Korean cruise missiles, air assaults, tactical live-fire drills, air-to-air assaults, air-to-surface assaults, and Buddy Wing exercises (interoperability drills between Korean and US fighter pilots). 

South Korea and the US conducted 23 field maneuvers last year. This year, that number is scheduled to increase to 48. There is also a chance that Freedom Shield will bring US strategic assets such as aircraft carriers and strategic bombers to the Korean Peninsula. 

South Korean and US military authorities have acknowledged the possibility of North Korea launching missiles and military surveillance satellites in response to the exercises, and have announced measures to enhance their respective defense postures.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

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