US, S Korea to go ahead with drills

THE US and South Korea will go ahead with joint military drills after the Paralympics, both of them confirmed on Tuesday, despite the exercises always infuriating Pyongyang and the Olympics having driven a rapprochement on the peninsula.

Washington previously agreed to a request from Seoul to delay the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises – which usually begin in late February or early March – until after the Pyeongchang Games in the South, to try to avoid stoking tensions. The Olympics have since seen a charm offensive by Pyongyang, which dispatched athletes, cheerleaders and its leader’s sister Kim Yo-jong to attend the Games.

She passed on Kim Jong-un’s invitation to the South’s President Moon Jae-in to come to a summit in Pyongyang – which he did not immediately accept, saying the right conditions were needed first.

Analysts say the Games-driven bonhomie may not last long once the sporting festivals are over, particularly once Key Resolve, a command post drill, and the Foal Eagle field exercise begin.

The start date will be announced by the two allies between the end of the Paralympics on March 18 and the beginning of April, Seoul’s Defence Minister Song Young-moo was quoted as telling the National Assembly.

General Vincent Brooks, who commands the 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea, last week told the US House Armed Services Committee that joint drills were “essential” to “deter North Korean aggression”.

Tensions often run high during the exercises, with the North carrying out its own counter-drills against what it condemns as rehearsals for a war.