South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (ICS) today announced that it will launch an annual military drill next week.

The Hoguk exercise, set to run from October 19-30 across the country, will involve the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, reports Yonhap News Agency.

"As an annual drill, the Hoguk exercise is defensive in nature, and focuses on the maintenance of our military readiness posture and the improvement of joint operations capabilities," the JCS said in a statement.

Thorough preventive measures against the Covid-19 pandemic and the African swine fever will be implemented, it said, adding that the scale and the overall plans would be similar to previous ones.

Launched in 1996, the exercise has been held on an annual basis in the second half of each year.

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