South Korea and the US will kick off a major combined military exercise next week to beef up their joint defense, the allies announced Monday, amid evolving prospects of North Korea’s new provocations, Yonhap News Agency reported. The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise based on an all-out war scenario is set to take place from Aug. 21-31, featuring various contingency drills, such as the computer simulation-based command post exercise, concurrent field training and Ulchi Civil Defense drills, according to the report. “Ulchi Freedom Shield 23 is designed to be a tough and realistic exercise to strengthen the combined defense posture and alliance response capabilities based on scenarios that reflect diverse threats within the security environment and lessons learned from recent wars and conflicts,” the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a press release. The exercise also includes drills on responses to cyberattacks and terrorism, it added. Aside from South Korean and US participants, personnel from member countries of the UN Command will join the exercise. The Command is a key enforcer of the armistice that halted the fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War. In the lead-up to the drills, Pyongyang has ratcheted up tensions with leader Kim Jong-un having recently called for a “drastic boost” in the country’s missile production capability and for war contingency preparations in an “offensive” manner. The exercise will proceed in two parts. The first segment will run from Aug. 21-25, followed by the last part, which will take place from Aug. 28-31. The exercise also includes drills on responses to cyberattacks and terrorism, the JCS said. In addition to the allies’ Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine personnel, US space forces will also partake, adding a new dimension to the comprehensive exercise, according to the US Forces Korea (USFK). “Since the last UFS, one of the changes that we do have now is the space force,” USFK spokesperson, Col. Isaac Taylor, told a press conference. “Throughout this exercise, one of the things that we will be focusing on ... is how do we incorporate multidomain operations.” In December last year, the US military launched the US Space Forces Korea, a USFK component, adding a new warfighting tool in line with its push to build capabilities by integrating and leveraging capabilities in all security domains. Taylor refused to specify what assets will be deployed here for the exercise, but stressed the US military will be “transparent” on the deployment issue. “If something does come, we will be transparent about that asset being here and provide imagery or information about how that asset was utilized here on the peninsula,” he said. Asked about worries that Pyongyang could launch provocations during the allied drills, the spokesperson pointed out that the exercise is a “routine” training program. Some 30 allied field training events are slated to take place during this year’s UFS, compared with 25 during the springtime Freedom Shield exercise this year and 13 in last year’s UFS, according to a JCS official. Aside from South Korean and U.S. participants, personnel from nine member countries of the U.N. Command (UNC) will join the exercise. The countries are Australia, Canada, France, Britain, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand, according to the USFK. The UNC is a key enforcer of the armistice that halted the fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War. The rare mention of UNC participants in the press release raised questions about any shift in the upcoming exercise, but Taylor said there has been “no change to how we operate.” “UNC has been essential to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula since 1950,” he said. The Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, an observer of the armistice, will also attend the drills. The commission has representatives from Sweden and Switzerland. Prior to the UFS exercise, the allies will hold a four-day crisis management exercise beginning Tuesday. The exercise focuses on procedures to respond to pre-war scenarios. — Agencies