South Korea to announce joint military drill plan with US before April
SOUTH KOREA - South Korea and the United States will announce plans before April for a postponed joint military drill, South Korea’s defense minister said yesterday.
Seoul and Washington had agreed to postpone the regular joint military exercise until after the Winter Olympics and Paralympics being hosted in South Korea, which end on March 18.
After the decision to delay the joint exercise, North Korea agreed to hold the first official talks with South Korea in more than two years and send athletes to the Winter Games, easing a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes. Asked when the two countries will hold the postponed drill, Song Young-moo told parliament he and his US counterpart, Jim Mattis, would make an announcement between March 18 and the start of April.
“The exercise was postponed according to the spirit of the Olympics,” Song said. “We have agreed to uphold the basis until after the Paralympics...and not to confirm nor deny anything regarding what we would do after that until we announce it.” Song added inter-Korean talks had not come about as a direct result of the postponed drill.
Pyongyang has warned it would not sit idle if the United States and South Korea push ahead with the postponed military exercises. North Korea denounces the drills as preparations to invade it, and it has at times conducted missile tests or taken other aggressive action in response.
The South Korean and US militaries usually hold military exercises called Key Resolve and Foal Eagle in March and April, which can involve as many as 17,000 US troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans. South Korea’s Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon said talks to stage the postponed military drill were moving forward. (Reuters)