South Korean, US forces wrap up joint military drills

South Korea's military on Monday said that it has completed all joint military drills with the US that were postponed in August this year, according to local media reports.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it completed 22 of the roughly 40 field drills, Yonhap News reported.

"To ensure a balanced military readiness posture year-round and maintain optimal conditions for training, we rescheduled 22 of about 40 joint drills and completed them by the end of the year," the JCS said.

In August, South Korea postponed parts of its joint drills with the US, stating that nearly half of the 40 planned exercises would be delayed to the following month.

The military cited multiple factors for the postponement, including a summer heatwave and the benefits of spreading exercises throughout the year to enhance readiness.

However, the decision in August was seen as a gesture by President Lee Jae Myung's administration to improve long-strained relations with Pyongyang and restore inter-Korean cooperation.

South Korea hosts more than 28,500 US troops under a bilateral defense treaty as the inter-Korean war of the 1950s ended in an armistice, not a ceasefire, keeping the divided Koreas technically at war.