South Korea and the United States launched Monday a joint logistics exercise on the west coast to enhance their logistical war readiness, the allies said.
  

The Combined Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore Exercise, which will run till July 9 at Anmyeon Beach, will train South Korean and U.S. "service members on how to accomplish vital logistical measures in an area with strategic access to Seoul," the Republic of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command said in a press release.
  

Around 1,700 service members, including 800 South Koreans, will participate in the joint exercise, which is the second of its kind on the west coast known for its strong tides. The last one was in 2013, according to the CFC.
  

This year's exercise required extensive planning to overcome the logistical challenge, including the extension of a portable pier over 400 meters of muddy tidal flats, it also noted.
  

The joint exercise is designed to bolster the allies' ability to transfer cargo from sea to shore as well as their logistics interoperability, communication and cooperation.
  

The South Korea military has launched a separate 11-day landing exercise in the same area Thursday, involving about 3,700 sailors and marines, but the CFC said the two drills are not related.
  

North Korea often decries joint Seoul-Washington military drills as a war rehearsal aimed at the communist country, although the allies say they are only defensive in nature.
  

Currently, about 28,500 U.S. soldiers are stationed in South Korea with South and North Korea still remaining technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)