{
  "id": 16709961,
  "title": "Seoul to maintain major allied drills as Brunson calls for year-round training",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/27/seoul-to-maintain-major-allied-drills-as-brunson-calls-for-year-round",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-27T05:22:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times-koreatimes",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/defense/20261027/seoul-to-maintain-major-allied-drills-as-brunson-calls-for-year-round-training"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "South Korea’s military announced on Wednesday that it will continue to conduct its two major annual exercises with the United States, while also maintaining year-round joint training, following a call from the top U.S. commander in South Korea. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) stated that the alliance is \"flexibly conducting and developing a balanced year-round training system while firmly maintaining their regular combined exercises in both halves of the year.\"\n\nGen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), made the remarks at an American Chamber of Commerce in Korea event. He met with JCS Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung to discuss the upcoming Freedom Shield exercise. Brunson emphasized that they cannot base their readiness on just two exercises per year, and that training should be continuous throughout the entire year to shape themselves to meet the objectives set by their national command authorities.\n\nThe allies conduct Freedom Shield in March and Ulchi Freedom Shield in August, both of which are large-scale exercises focused on command-post operations. In addition to these major exercises, they also engage in smaller combined training activities throughout the year.",
  "summary": "Seoul’s military says it will maintain its two major annual exercises with Washington while continuing joint training throughout the year, following a call by the top U.S. commander in South Korea for more consistent training. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the allies are “flexibly conducting and developing a balanced year-round training system while firmly maintaining their regular…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}