The U.S. and South Korea will kick off large-scale spring military exercises next week, featuring twice as many rounds of field training as last year and live-fire drills on shooting down North Korean cruise missiles, the allies announced on Wednesday.

But the regular Freedom Shield drills, scheduled to run for 11 days from March 4-14, will not include any training in sensitive inter-Korean border areas amid growing concerns about the dangers of accidental military clashes with the DPRK.