Seoul: South Korea's military has significantly enhanced its defense posture against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats during the current administration, the defense ministry reported. This enhancement includes an increase in the deployment of U.S. strategic assets and more frequent field training exercises. According to Yonhap News Agency, the assessment was part of a midterm review of the Yoon Suk Yeol government's defense policy, which has taken a strong stance against North Korean provocations. These provocations include the launch of advanced missiles, spy satellites, and continued sending of trash balloons across the border. Between May 2022 and November this year, Washington deployed its nuclear assets to and around the Korean Peninsula over 30 times, marking a significant increase compared to the January 2018-May 2022 period when such assets were absent. The number of brigade-level field training exercises, as well as ground and maritime artillery drills in the border area, occurred 18 times and 22 times, respectively, this year. This was following the suspension of a now-defunct 2018 military tension reduction agreement. In June, South Korea fully suspended the Comprehensive Military Agreement in response to the North's trash-carrying balloon campaign and GPS jamming attacks. This suspension allowed the military to resume drills previously banned due to buffer zones in the area, and no-fly zones were designated near the border to prevent accidental aircraft clashes. "Following the suspension, the military has been deterring North Korean threats by normalizing operations and training and guaranteeing the circumstances to operate combined surveillance assets of South Korea and the United States," the ministry stated. Looking ahead, the ministry plans to launch its third military surveillance satellite from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in the third week of December. This is part of a plan to establish a network of five military spy satellites to better monitor North Korea. South Korea launched its first spy satellite in December last year and the second one in April. The ministry also plans to advance the high-power Hyunmoo-5 missile, which was first showcased during the Armed Forces Day ceremony last month, without providing further details. To address the country's declining population, which is a concern for a nation that mandates military service for all able-bodied men, the ministry aims to allocate more budget for the development of unmanned assets. This plan includes introducing suicide drones, bomb disposal robots, and testing AI-based equipment such as multipurpose unmanned vehicles and quadruped legged robots at front-line units starting next year. Additionally, the ministry will push to raise the basic wage for elementary-level officers by 6.6 percent next year.