South Korea and the United States kicked off a joint military exercise on Saturday as scheduled, said South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

The week-long exercise, dubed Foal Eagle and RSOI (Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration), is one of dozens joint military games the South Korean and US military conduct every year.

RSOI is a combined command post exercise, while Foal Eagle is a theater-wide joint field training focusing on rear area stability and select war-fighting operations. The allies have held the two drills together since 2001.

The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, high speed vessels and Stryker armored vehicles participated in the joint military drills, along with some US 17,000 troops, including 6,000 from the 32,500 US forces stationed on the Korean Peninsula. It was not known how many South Korean troops were involved.

"The level of the US troops and military equipment mobilized this time is similar to ones in the preceding years," the United States Forces Korea (USFK) command in Seoul said in a statement.

The US command has notified the Democratic People's Republic ofKorea (DPRK) by telephone of the joint military drills, said Yonhap.

(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2005)