Earlier this week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, slammed the U.S. and South Korea for conducting computer-simulated military drills — a move that she condemned as a “serious challenge.”

Seoul and Washington have a long history of military exercises in various forms, and some South Korean and American peace groups have questioned whether they should be conducted at all. 

But what do these exercises really look like on the ground — and is all the controversy warranted? NK News podcast host Jacco Zwetsloot sat down with Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Tharp, a retired U.S. Army officer