Seoul: South Korea and the United States initiated their key summertime combined exercise on Monday, with Seoul aiming to utilize the drills to expedite efforts to regain wartime operational command (OPCON) from Washington. The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise will run until August 27, featuring combined and all-domain operations to enhance the allies' readiness and capabilities by incorporating realistic threats reflecting the rapidly evolving nature of modern warfare.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the UFS is a flagship combined exercise conducted by the allies each year to prepare for contingencies against North Korea, alongside the Freedom Shield (FS) that takes place in spring. This year's UFS comes as South Korea endeavors to retake wartime command from the U.S. before the Lee Jae Myung administration's five-year term concludes in 2030, or potentially as early as next year, although differences appear to persist with the U.S. over the timeline.
The South Korean military expressed that it anticipates the latest UFS will bolster ongoing preparations for a "conditions-based" OPCON transition. Seoul and Washington are collaborating on the OPCON transition based on a three-phased plan, with the evaluation process for the second phase currently underway. The UFS is seen as a platform where the allies can assess South Korea's capabilities to lead the combined forces once Seoul regains wartime OPCON from Washington.
Unlike some previous UFS drills, this year's exercise will not include training where the South Korean deputy commander of the Combined Forces Command (CFC) assumes the role of the CFC commander, which is currently held by the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander. This has led to the perception that the U.S. remains cautious about Seoul's push to hasten the OPCON transition. Washington has expressed concerns that its Asian ally may be rushing the process for political reasons.
Capt. Jang Do-young, spokesperson for the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), stated in a press briefing last week that the allies intend to conduct a joint evaluation of South Korea's capabilities during the UFS period to advance the OPCON transition, with the military focusing "all of its capabilities" on achieving that goal. USFK spokesperson Col. Ryan Donald emphasized that specific OPCON capability assessments are being managed through bilateral channels, indicating that the UFS exercise is primarily aimed at training execution.
Field training exercises, a core component of the UFS, have been reduced from last year's drills. The allies will conduct 14 battalion-level field training, known as Warrior Shield, compared with 17 conducted during the 2025 UFS. The Lee administration has scaled back the field training in an apparent effort to ease tensions with North Korea, which has long criticized the exercises as war rehearsals.
In a statement by a foreign ministry official on Friday, North Korea denounced this year's UFS as preparations for military confrontation with the regime, warning of responses "with a new level of a deterrent." The North also launched short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea over two separate occasions, on August 6 and last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Eighth Army, a core ground headquarters of the USFK, described the UFS' focus as "modernizing the alliance" and "shaping the security environment in Northeast Asia," suggesting that its role may potentially expand beyond the Korean Peninsula. South Korea has maintained that the UFS exercise is conducted strictly for the defense of the peninsula.
The United Nations Command (UNC), which administers the Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, is sending around 70 personnel from 12 of its 18 member states to support the UFS exercise.