Korea, U.S. to Reshuffle Annual Drills

The government is considering rescheduling annual joint exercises with the U.S. so that the government-led Ulchi exercise now coincides with drills dubbed Key Resolve in February and March.

The Ulchi exercise is currently being staged simultaneously with another massive drill dubbed Freedom Guardian in August, which prepares for a full-scale war with North Korea.

"The government is now considering staging the Ulchi drill simultaneously with the Key Resolve exercise in February and March due to some criticism of declining efficiency," a government official said.

There has been criticism that government officials pay scant attention to the Ulchi drill as many of them go on summer holiday around that time or are busy preparing for annual parliamentary audits in September.

Key Resolve is an annual joint command post exercise to train for the deployment of large reinforcements in Korea from the U.S. mainland in case of a North Korean invasion and for any sudden change in the North like regime collapse.