Context

The South Korean and U.S. militaries announced to hold their biggest joint field exercises in five years, as the U.S. flew a long-range B-1B bomber to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against North Korea.

Background:

• The two countries last conducted Foal Eagle in 2018. 
• Recently, both the countries have been expanding their joint military exercises in the face of an evolving North Korean nuclear threat.
• The United States flew a supersonic bomber over ally South Korea as part of an enormous combined aerial exercise involving hundreds of warplanes in a show of force meant to intimidate North Korea over its barrage of ballistic missile tests.
• The US has fired B-1B missiles demonstrated its determination and ability to use the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its allies.

Details of the exercise:

• The South Korean and U.S. military will conduct the Freedom Shield exercise, a computer-simulated command post training, to strengthen their defense and response capabilities, and separate large-scale joint field training exercises called ‘Warrior Shield FTX.’
• It is going to be conducted from March 13 to 23, 2023.

Why such an exercise being conducted?

• North Korea test-fired more than 70 missiles in the year 2022, the most ever in a single year, and several more this year. 
• Many of the missiles were nuclear-capable weapons designed to strike the U.S. mainland and South Korea.
• The Hwasong-15 is one of North Korea's three existing ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles), all of which use liquid propellants that require pre-launch injections and cannot remain fueled for extended periods. 
• The North is pushing to build a solid-fuelled ICBM, which would be more mobile and harder to detect before its launch.