Upon the conclusion of the Freedom Shield exercises

On 19 March 2026, the armed forces of the Republic of Korea and the United States completed the annual spring exercises ‘Freedom Shield’, which, according to official statements, aim at ‘enhancing readiness to counter a full-scale attack from North Korea’.

Briefly on the progress of the drills

According to the ROK media, the exercises, which lasted from 9 to 19 March, saw about 18,000 troops from the two countries taking part in them. This is comparable to last year’s scale, but the number of field manoeuvres fell by more than half, from 51 to 22.

The ROK media pointed to divergences between the sides on this matter: allegedly, the US military expressed disagreement with the South’s proposal to minimise field training, reduce the number of units involved in the exercises, and cut down on the number of live-fire drills.

In reality, there is more to the situation than meets the eye, because President Lee has fallen into a trap of mutually exclusive promises. On the one hand, he intends to return to the ROK wartime operational control of its own forces by the end of his term. This, according to the Democrats, would give Seoul strategic autonomy, but for that the South Korean generals must show their competence, which requires conducting exercises. On the other hand, inter-Korean dialogue was an equally big promise, and although Pyongyang demonstratively ignores Seoul, to theoretically soften North Korea’s position, South Korea should refrain from holding drills.

Moreover, if we juxtapose the 2026 exercises not with the most recent autumn exercises but with the exercises of 10–20 March 2025, the latter included 16 types of field manoeuvres. Thus, the number is not smaller but larger.

‘Freedom Shield’ was positioned as........

© New Eastern Outlook