Anti-war activists shout slogans during a rally denouncing the planned South Korea-US joint military drill near the US embassy in Seoul February 15, 2011. South Korea will stage the annual peninsula-wide joint military drills with the United States, which have already drawn criticism from the North, from February 28 to March 10, 2011. An American aircraft carrier will join the exercise, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.[Agencies]

SEOUL- South Korean and US forces will stage annual military exercises starting later this month in the allies' latest show of force, the Combined Forces Command (CFC) here said Tuesday.

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The "Key Resolve and Foal Eagle" exercises, slated from February 28- March 10, are aimed at enhancing defense posture against "any potential contingency that could arise" on the divided Korean peninsula, the CFC said in a statement.

The drills will also involve field training exercises centering on ground maneuver, air, naval, expeditionary and special operation forces, the command said. Some 12,800 US troops and 200,000 South Korean troops will be mobilized for the 11-day drills, along with a US aircraft carrier, according to local reports.

"We are exercising Alliance actions to a number of realistic scenarios beyond defeating a conventional attack," Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of the CFC, was quoted as saying in the statement. "Through these scenarios, we will exercise Allies crisis management, deterring and rapidly defeating provocations and defensive operation."

The overt show of combined force comes amid lingering tension on the peninsula after an exchange of fire between the two Koreas last November near their disputed maritime border. Last March, a South Korean warship sank in an apparent torpedo attack Seoul blames on Pyongyang despite the latter's repeated denial.

The CFC said it said informed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) of the upcoming drills, which it said will be "entirely defensive in nature."

The DPRK repeatedly condemned the annual war game as preparation for war.