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SEOUL, March 9 (AJP) - South Korean and U.S. troops began their annual joint military exercise on Monday to strengthen their combined defense posture.

The exercise, dubbed Freedom Shield (FS), runs until March 19 under a scenario simulating a full-scale war to prepare for contingencies on the Korean Peninsula.

The exercise, involving about 18,000 troops, similar to the levels seen last year, also aims to assess combat readiness to prepare for the transfer of wartime operational control from Washington to Seoul.


But field drills will be reduced to 16 from 33 last year.

Pundits say the scaled-down drills may reflect the South's efforts to avoid provoking North Korea and help create an atmosphere for talks ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's planned visit to China later this month, though the talks now appear unlikely after U.S.-led airstrikes on Iran earlier this month.

But others speculate that the drills are being scaled back amid the possible deployment of U.S. military assets to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, North Korea, which has condemned the drills as rehearsals for an invasion, is expected to pretest again.