US soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division participate in a joint Freedom Shield (FS) exercise with South Korean soldiers on March 16, 2023, in Paju, South Korea. South Korea and the United States kicked off a regular combined military exercise amid heightened tensions caused by North Korea's missile tests and hardening rhetoric against the allies. The computer simulation-based Freedom Shield (FS) exercise's 11-day run is held under "realistic" scenarios reflective of the North's evolving nuclear and missile threats. The exercise is held concurrently with a field training exercise, called the Warrior Shield. North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea today, hours before summit talks between the leaders of South Korea and Japan on pending bilateral issues and regional security.
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