Scaled-down US military drills off Korea to go ahead

SOUTH Korea and the US begin their postponed military exercises on Friday with scaled-back manoeuvres as tensions ease on the peninsula.

The drills are likely to be smaller than last year, when the threat of conflict with the North was higher amid missile tests and a war of words between US and North Korean leaders.

The exercises were rearranged to avoid the Winter Olympics and looked likely to be scaled back while Washington pursued diplomatic solutions to Pyongyang’s nuclear programmes.

This year’s drills start on April 1 and are expected to finish before the end of the month, when Moon Jae-in, the South Korean leader, travels to the border village of Panmunjom to meet Kim Jong-un ahead of a possible summit between the US and North Korea.

But in a press release, South Korea insisted the drills would “be conducted at a similar size to previous years”, adding that the UN had notified North Korea of the schedule and reiterated that the exercises would be defensive in nature.

Last year’s show of force was bolstered by the presence of the giant aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. It is not expected it will take part in this year’s exercises, while local media reported that Seoul and Washington were attempting to reduce the scale of a simulated landing by US Marines. There has been no official response from the North, although state-run media has said all exercises should be cancelled. ♦ In more evidence of a thaw in relations, K-pop is to cross into the North for a four-day series of pop concerts by 160 South Korean artists from March 31.