South Korea and the United States on Friday completed an annual joint military drill denounced by North Korea as a rehearsal for war. The computer-assisted simulation exercise, named Ulchi Freedom Guardian, was successfully finished after kicking off on August 20, the Combined Forces Command of the two allies said in a statement.
It "strengthened our combined defence and enhanced the readiness of Republic of Korea and US forces," said General James D. Thurman, Combined Forces commander. "The exercise was based on realistic scenarios that enabled us to provide valuable training on our essential tasks and ensured we are fully prepared to defend the Republic of Korea (South Korea)", he said. Senior leaders exercised decision-making capabilities and commanders had chances to train in combined planning, military intelligence, logistics and control operations through computer simulations.