As of 2024 there are 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and every single March like clock work they conduct an annual training exercise. You need only enter a few quick searches to see the kind of response North Korea has to these drills. They respond with diplomatic warnings, denouncings, and even nuclear threats. It’s one of North Korea’s main gripes. So why does something that appears to be such a routine defensive action from the point of view of the U.S elicit such a strong response from North Korea? It’s like the popular saying “one man’s boring training exercise is another man’s geopolitical crisis”