Thousands of troops begin annual drills amid speculation over US Patriot redeployment to the Middle East
2-MIN READ2-MIN1 ListenAssociated PressPublished: 11:45am, 9 Mar 2026The United States began a large military exercise with South Korea involving thousands of troops Monday while also waging an escalating war in the Middle East.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff has said about 18,000 Korean troops would take part in Freedom Shield, which runs through March 19. US Forces Korea has not confirmed the number of American troops participating in the training in South Korea.
The allies’ combined exercise comes amid South Korean media speculation that Washington is relocating some assets from South Korea to support fighting against Iran.
US Forces Korea said last week it would not comment on specific movements of military assets for security reasons.
South Korean officials also declined to comment on the reports that some US Patriot anti-missile systems and other equipment were being moved to the Middle East, but they said there would be no meaningful impact on the allies’ combined defence posture.
Freedom Shield may trigger an irritated response from North Korea, which has long described the allies ’ joint exercises as invasion rehearsals and used them as a pretext to ramp up its own military demonstrations and weapons tests. The allies say the drills are defensive in nature.
