{
  "id": 16713371,
  "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-16713371",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-27T06:02:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times",
    "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 maintains its two major annual joint exercises with the United States, despite top U.S. commander Gen. Xavier Brunson advocating for more consistent training throughout the year. The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that the allies are \"flexibly conducting and developing a balanced year-round training system while firmly maintaining their regular combined exercises in both halves of the year.\"\n\nGeneral Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, emphasized during an American Chamber of Commerce in Korea event that they cannot rely on readiness solely based on two exercises a year. \"It has to be training throughout the entirety of the year where we continue to shape ourselves to meet the objective set forward for us by our national command authorities,\" he explained.\n\nThe allies traditionally hold Freedom Shield in March and Ulchi Freedom Shield in August, both large-scale exercises focusing on command-post operations. Additionally, smaller combined training activities take place regularly, as per the JCS statement.",
  "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."
}