South Korea and the United States will begin a major combined military exercise next week, their militaries said Monday, as they are in preparations for Seoul's retaking of wartime command from Washington. The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise will take place from Aug. 17-27, in a bid to bolster their joint defense readiness, drills widely viewed as contingency training against North Korea. The UFS will be held by incorporating "realistic" threats, and to "further strengthen the allies' readiness and capabilities through combined, joint, all-domain operations," the allies' militaries said in a joint statement. South Korea and the U.S. hold two large-scale combined exercises every year, the Freedom Shield (FS) in spring and the UFS in summer. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the upcoming UFS exercise will "serve as an opportunity to support ongoing preparations for a conditions-based wartime operational control (OPCON) transition." The UFS is regarded as a testing ground where the allies can evaluate South Korea's capabilities to lead the combined forces once Seoul ret