Large-scale US-ROK drills to start March 4 amid elevated North Korea tensions | NK News
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September 28, 2026Sep 28, 2026

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Large-scale US-ROK drills to start March 4 amid elevated North Korea tensions

Freedom Shield will feature live-fire exercises on shooting down DPRK cruise missiles but not training near border

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.

The exercise will notably be the first biannual U.S.-ROK joint drill since last year’s collapseof the 2018 Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA)