South Korea: All joint field training exercises between the US that were postponed until August are finished JCS

South Korea: As part of the annual summer Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, the South Korean military said Monday that it had completed all of the joint field training exercises with the United States that the allies had postponed after moving them from August.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced to the media that it had finished 22 of the approximately 40 field exercises that the allies had chosen to postpone by one month till August.

“To ensure a balanced military readiness posture year-round and the conditions for training, we have rescheduled 22 of about 40 joint drills and completed them by the end of the year,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

According to the JCS, the key exercises that were finished were live-fire drills, personnel recovery operations, equipment maintenance support training, and combined tactical airborne insertion drills.

According to the Yonhap news agency, two of the exercises—including airport damage repair drills—were carried out exclusively by the South Korean military.

Citing “multiple factors,” including a heat wave and the advantage of distributing the field training exercises throughout the year for increased preparedness, the allies had already opted to postpone the exercises to some extent.

However, there are rumors that part of the field exercises were postponed in what seemed to be a gesture of reconciliation in keeping with the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s desire to repair strained relations between the two Koreas.

As part of the annual summer Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, the U.S. and South Korean forces rescheduled their August field training exercises to September, and as of earlier on October 14, they had only conducted five of the 20 scheduled exercises.

Citing the continuing heat wave, the allies had already agreed to postpone by one month around half of the 40 field training exercises that were scheduled for August.

However, according to a report sent by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Representative Kang Dae-sik of the major opposition People Power Party (PPP), they had only carried out five of the twenty field drills scheduled for September.