SEOUL - The Republic of Korea (ROK) and US forces kicked off their joint annual war game on Monday.

The annually-held Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) will be conducted from Aug 22 to Sept 2 to enhance US-ROK defense readiness and maintain defense in the region and stability on the Korean Peninsula, Combined Forces Command said in a press release.

The computer-assisted simulation exercise will mobilize about 25,000 US troops, including 2,500 reinforcements from the US mainland and the US Pacific Command. It was lower than last year's 30,000 US forces.

From the ROK?side, some 50,000 forces will join the military exercise. It was almost the same as last year's.

The United Nations Command's military armistice commission notified the DPRK at about 9:40 am local time of the drill schedule and its defense nature verbally in Panmunjom, the truce village in the border dividing the two Koreas.