South Korea and the United States will conduct their annual joint military drills next month, the Combined Forces Command said Tuesday, amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula following repeated threats against the exercises from North Korea.
  

The computerized command post exercise, called Key Resolve, will be held from March 2-13 to improve the combined forces' operation and combat capabilities to deter threats from the North, according to the CFC.
  

The two-week war game will involve about 10,000 South Korean and 8,600 American troops to test various scenarios in which South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff plays a leading role in conducting operations.
  

"It is important to maintain our high level of proficiency on key tasks while exercising different scenarios," CFC commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti said in a statement. "Exercising our multinational force is an important component of readiness and is fundamental to sustaining and strengthening the alliance."
  

Separately, the allies are scheduled to hold the field training exercise Foal Eagle, which involves a set of land, sea and air maneuvers, from March 2 to April 24.
  

The two-month tactical training will mobilize about 200,000 Korean and 3,700 American troops, mostly from overseas.
  

Drawing attention is the participation of the USS Fort Worth, a 3,450-ton Freedom-class littoral combat ship, in the drill during its rotational deployment to the 7th Fleet.
  

"It is the first time an LCS has trained with the South Korean Navy and 7th Fleet ships in Northeast Asia," U.S. Naval Forces Korea spokesman Arlo Abrahamson said in a statement. "The exercise provides a great chance to increase our combined readiness, which ultimately contributes to greater stability for the region."
  

The combat ship, complete with surface warfare mission package capabilities including an MH-60R helicopter and Mark 110 57-millimeter gun, is capable of getting closer to shore than larger ships during diverse scenarios, which "brings speed, maneuverability and shallow draft to this exercise," according to the U.S. navy.
  

Five countries -- Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, and Britain -- are scheduled to participate in the exercises, with the Neutral Supervisory Commission to observe and monitor them to ensure they do not break the armistice agreement signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
  

The large-scale annual drills are expected to further heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with Pyongyang issuing near-daily threats of harsh retaliation of "hostile" forces.
  

Repeating its long-held claims that the exercises are "dress rehearsals" for a northward invasion with nuclear weapons, the North said in its main newspaper Rodong Sinmun Tuesday that "chances of dialogue or diplomatic resolutions are all gone and vowed to strengthen war deterrence at the full scale and respond militarily."
  

South Korea and the U.S., however, have said they will go ahead with the plan, as the regular exercises are defensive in nature and aim solely to bolster readiness against a possible invasion by North Korea.
  

"Earlier in the day, the Military Armistice Commission of the United Nations Command informed North Korea about the exercise plan," a CFC official said, requesting anonymity. "The North has not made any official response to it." (Yonhap)