Annual South Korean and U.S. military exercises called Freedom Shield are due to begin on Monday and run until March 20, aiming to strengthen readiness for threats such as North Korea, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) previously said.

National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik made the remarks after his first in-person meeting with his U.S. counterpart, Mike Waltz, in Washington as Seoul has been striving to ensure that it and the Donald Trump administration remain on the same page in their overall approach toward the recalcitrant regime in Pyongyang.

South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok on Wednesday ordered a review into the impact of U.S. tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China that came into force this week.

Every year on March 1, South Koreans commemorate the anniversary of the 1919 March 1 Movement, a nationwide uprising against Japanese imperial rule that galvanized the Korean independence movement.

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