South Korea and the US are eliminating their massive springtime military drills and replacing them with smaller exercises in what they call an effort to support diplomacy aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis.
The decision announced by both countries yesterday came after US President Donald Trump complained about the cost of joint drills, even as his high-stakes second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam collapsed last week.
The drills’ cancelation is an olive branch to North Korea, which views them as an invasion rehearsal.
Photo: AP
However, it is likely to raise worries about how the allies will maintain their readiness in the event that military tensions erupt again in the wake of the failed nuclear summit.
The Pentagon in a news release said that the US and South Korean defense chiefs decided to conclude the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises.
The allies agreed to maintain firm military readiness through newly designed command post exercises and revised field training programs, it said.
Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and South Korean Minister of Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo “made clear that the alliance decision to adapt our training program reflected our desire to reduce tension and support our diplomatic efforts to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a final, fully verified manner,” the statement said.
The South Korean Ministry of Defense released a similar statement.
Jeong expressed his regrets about the lack of agreement at the Trump-Kim summit, but still hopes that Washington and Pyongyang will continue negotiations, the ministry statement said.
The new training, dubbed “Dong Maeng,” which means “alliance” in English, starts today and runs through Tuesday next week.
It would focus on “strategic operational and tactical aspects of general military operations on the Korean Peninsula,” the South Korean military and the US-South Korean combined forces command said in a joint statement.
The new training would be done in smaller drills, tabletop exercises and simulations, and it would involve smaller units, such as battalions and companies, rather than massive formations involving thousands of troops, as was done in the past, US officials said.
The Pentagon would focus on smaller exercises and essential tasks, which include the ability to integrate airstrikes and the use of other weapons systems, drones, surveillance assets, logistics and communications, officials said.
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