The South Korean Ministry of National Defense has announced it will launch its annual Hoguk defense field exercise this week. The drills will aim to enhance joint operational readiness and reinforce a strong readiness posture in the land, maritime and air domains, starting Monday and will continue over five days.

The year’s ‘maneuvers’ began in 1996, and will feature a similar number of troops as used during the 2025 exercises. The operation will feature simulated combat training, an opposing force exercise, a computer-simulated command post exercise and high-level strategy discussions, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said. U.S. Forces Korea personnel also will be on hand to directly improve military interoperability between the two allied countries.

The South Korean military will also simultaneously conduct two joint field training exercises which had been delayed along with the standard Hoguk exercises. These were specific drills planned into the overall Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) summer exercise.

The UFS was originally planned to last from August 17 to 27, but ended early and was shortened by almost half the duration. This change came in the wake of the White House’s order, issued with Trump’s instructions, to substantially cut down on the joint drills as a supposed “diplomatic act of conciliation” towards North Korea.

Although the summer camp season was cut short, military officials along with their South Korean counterparts are saying the remaining five exercises set for the summer that were postponed because of the coronavirus will be completed in full by the end of the year to maintain combat readiness.