‘WAR GAMES’ ARE BACK: U.S. Forces Korea announced today that the annual major military U.S.-South Korea joint exercise “Ulchi Freedom Shield” will begin a week from today and run through the end of the month.

The annual military drills, named for a famous Korean general, were scaled back during the Trump administration in an effort to appease North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has consistently denounced the annual exercises as “war games” that are a “rehearsal for an invasion of the North.” The U.S. command insists the exercises, which will include thousands of South Korean and American troops as well as forces from 10 other nations, are purely defensive in nature.

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