South Korea, US Launch Joint Exercise

South Korea and the US have kicked off their annual joint Key Resolve military exercise. 
The South Korea-US Combined Forces Command (CFC) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the two allies said the Key Resolve exercise began on Monday and will continue until March 24th, South Korea's (KBS World Radio) said. 
US strategic assets will be deployed on a large-scale into the Key Resolve drill as well as the ongoing Foal Eagle exercise slated to be wrapped up next month. 
The two drills will also be attended by around ten-thousand US military personnel, including those belonging to the US Forces Korea and those dispatched from US bases overseas. 
In the latest Key Resolve exercise, South Korea and the US plan to apply their new joint wartime operational plan, OPLAN 5015, which aims to launch preemptive strikes against North Korea’s key nuclear facilities if signs of war are detected on the Korean Peninsula. 
The two allies will also carry out missile defense drills to simulate shooting down incoming North Korean missiles using THAAD missile interceptors and US patriot missiles. 
The militaries of South Korea and the US have heightened their monitoring and alertness against North Korea given the possibility the regime will conduct another ballistic missile test-launch or a new nuclear test before the Foal Eagle exercises end next month. 

Source: QNA