The U.S. and South Korea will hold large-scale springtime military drills on countering North Korean threats from March 9 to 19, the allies announced on Wednesday.

The announcement followed reports that Seoul was pushing to delay or scale back the annual Freedom Shield exercise to support diplomacy with Pyongyang, with the allies stating that training will be “carried out normally.” 

During a joint briefing at Seoul’s Defense Ministry, the two sides also framed the annual Freedom Shield exercise as supporting “ongoing preparations” for the conditions-based transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington to Seoul.

“By incorporating realistic threats, including