The large-scale exercises involving tens of thousands of ground troops are a perennial source of tension between the two Koreas

SEOUL, South Korea – The United States and South Korea announced Tuesday, March 20, that their annual joint military drills would go ahead next month, with no significant downsize in scale despite an ongoing diplomatic thaw with North Korea.

The large-scale exercises involving tens of thousands of ground troops are a perennial source of tension between the two Koreas, with Pyongyang condemning them as provocative rehearsals for an invasion of the North.

With talks under way to set up a North-South summit, followed by a proposed face-to-face meet between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, there was speculation that this year's drills might be scaled back to avoid derailing the discussions.

They had already been delayed to avoid clashing with the Pyeongchang Winter Games in the South last month.

But Washington and Seoul said the exercises would kick off on April 1 and be "similar" in size to those of previous years.

"Our combined exercises are defense-oriented and there is no reason for North Korea to view them as a provocation," the Pentagon said in a statement, adding that Pyongyang had been informed in advance of the dates and nature of the drills.

According to a senior South Korean envoy who made a rare visit to Pyongyang earlier this month, Kim had made it clear he "understands" the need for the drills to go ahead.

Such an acknowledgement is in stark contrast to the Kim regime's denunciations of the exercises in the past. The North has often responded to the drills with its own military actions, and last year fired 4 ballistic missiles close to Japan.

"Foal Eagle" is a series of field training exercises with approximately 11,500 US forces taking part, together with 290,000 South Korean troops, while "Key Resolve" is a command post exercise using mainly computer-based simulations.

The United States has close to 30,000 troops permanently stationed in South Korea.

Following an extended period of escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula, the Winter Olympics provided the catalyst for a sudden and very rapid rapprochement that resulted in the announcements of the planned summits.

Those announcements were made by the South Koreans, who have been orchestrating the diplomatic preparations and acting as the messenger between Washington and Pyongyang.

Trump's administration is pushing ahead with plans for a summit before the end of May, but North Korea has yet to independently confirm it even extended an invitation to leadership talks – maintaining a silence that has raised some concerns in Washington and Seoul.

According to the South Korean envoy who met with Kim in Pyongyang, the North Korean leader also offered to consider abandoning his nuclear weapons in exchange for US security guarantees, and flagged a halt to all missile and nuclear tests while dialogue was under way. – Rappler.com</s>The Pentagon has announced that the annual military drills between the US and South Korea will start from April 1, the media reported on Tuesday

The Pentagon has announced that the annual military drills between the US and South Korea will start from April 1, the media reported on Tuesday. "US Secretary of Defence James N. Mattis and the South Korea Minister of National Defence Song Young-moo have agreed to resume the annual combined exercises including Foal Eagle and Key Resolve which were de-conflicted with the schedule of the Olympic Games" Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning said in a statement issued late Monday.

"The exercises are expected to resume April 1, at a scale similar to that of the previous years." Manning added: "The UN Command has notified the Korean People's Army (North Korea's army) on the schedule as well as the defensive nature of the annual exercises." This year's Foal Eagle field training exercises will involve about 11,500 US forces and some 290,000 South Korean troops, according to Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Logan. The exercise was originally supposed to take place during the Winter Olympics, which were held last month in Pyeongchang, South Korea, CNN reported.

However, US and South Korean officials opted to postpone it until after the Olympics and the Paralympics, which ended on Sunday. South Korea has said the postponement was part of an effort to reduce tensions with North Korea and help ensure a successful Olympics, while US officials have maintained that the postponement was due to logistics and a need to "de-conflict" the exercise with the Olympic Games. Monday's announcement comes as US President Donald Trump readies for a potential major summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which could take place in May.

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• The annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises will begin on April 1.
• The exercises were postponed for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
• The exercises are expected to be "at a scale similar to" that of previous years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — At a potentially pivotal moment of diplomacy with North Korea, the Pentagon said Monday that annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises that had been postponed for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics will begin April 1.

In a brief statement, the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his South Korean counterpart, Song Young-moo, agreed to go forward with the maneuvers, known as Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, "at a scale similar to" that of previous years.

North Korea has been notified of the schedule "as well as the defensive nature" of the exercises, the Pentagon said.

President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands during a meeting at South Korea’s presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, November 7, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

The timing and size of the annual maneuvers are especially sensitive this year because of heightened tension over the North's accelerated work last year on a nuclear-armed missile potentially capable of reaching the United States - followed, unexpectedly, by prospects for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis.

North Korea typically objects to U.S.-South Korean military exercises, calling them dress rehearsals for an invasion. Washington and Seoul insist they are defensive and are needed to keep allied forces combat-ready.

After recent high-level talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean officials said Kim indicated his acceptance of the maneuvers. Kim also offered to meet personally with President Donald Trump to discuss giving up his nuclear weapons on unspecified terms, and Trump quickly agreed. The time and place of the unprecedented talks have not been set, but the White House indicated the summit would happen by May.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is scheduled to set the stage for that summit by meeting with Kim in April in the Demilitarized Zone, which separates the two Koreas.

South Korean and US Marines aim their weapons near amphibious assault vehicles during the US-South Korea joint landing military exercises in Pohang, south of Seoul, South Korea, March 30, 2015. Lee Jin-man/AP

It had been widely expected that the U.S.-South Korean military exercises would go ahead, even with the new prospects for diplomacy. Some have speculated that the maneuvers would be scaled back, but the Pentagon said they would be conducted at "the same scale, scope and duration" as in previous years.

The larger of the two exercises, Foal Eagle, is a field training exercise with about 11,500 U.S. troops and about 290,000 South Korean troops, according to a Pentagon spokesman, Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Logan. The other, known as Key Resolve, will involve about 12,200 U.S. troops and about 10,000 from South Korea.

"To avoid compromising exercise objectives, specifics regarding the exercise scenarios will not be discussed," Logan said, adding that the purpose is to "enhance" the ability of the U.S.-South Korean alliance to defend South Korean territory.

The U.S. has about 28,500 troops permanently stationed in South Korea and is obligated by treaty to defend the South in the event it is attacked by the North. The two Koreas are still technically at war because their 1950-53 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.</s>Barely a month after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he "couldn't rule out" US forces physically boarding ships caught violating US sanctions against North Korea, RT is reporting that, despite the recent thaw in relations between the US, South Korea and North Korea, the annual "Foal Eagle" and "Key Resolve" joint military exercises involving US and South Korea forces will begin April 1.

Signs of a breakthrough in North-South relations ahead of last month's Winter Olympics prompted the US to postpone the drills, which typically elicit a vehement condemnation from the North, as well as threats of retaliation.

But now that the Games are over, the Pentagon said the planned drills will resume as scheduled - despite North Korea's offer to freeze its missile and nuclear tests ahead of a meeting between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, which Trump hastily agreed to earlier this month.

South Korea's Ministry of National Defense confirmed as much to Yonhap.

The exercises are expected to conclude toward the end of May, the Pentagon said.

The North Koreans have been notified about the drills by the United Nations Command. The Pentagon emphasized that the drills are not a response to a specific North Korean action.

Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed that the drills would involve about 23,000 troops and 300,000 members of the South Korean military.

After a round of successful negotiations with South Korea, Kim sent a letter that was hand-delivered to Trump by a South Korean delegation inviting him to engage in direct talks.

Trump agreed to meet with Kim "sometime in May", ignoring pleas from diplomats and Pentagon officials that honoring the request would "legitimize" North Korea in the eyes of the world.

South Korea has assured the US that the North is "committed to denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula. Until this latest salvo, the North had insisted that it would never give up its nukes under any circumstances, while the US insisted that denuclearization would be a precondition for any lifting of sanctions.

Surprisingly, the North Korean leader suggested he'd be willing to countenance the latest round of military drills, even as the US offered no concessions in return.

A North Korea expert at the University of Chicago warned Tuesday that the US shouldn't believe the North when it says it would consider giving up its nukes, according to Yonhap.

So, what do you think? Is North Korea trying to lure Trump into a diplomatic trap with the ultimate aim of embarrassing the US? Or have the many rounds of economic sanctions imposed against the regime finally started to work?</s>(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File). FILE - In this March 25, 2015, file photo, U.S. Army soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team and South Korean soldiers take their position during a demonstration of the combined arms live...

(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon). South Korean Defense Ministry's spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo speaks during a press briefing at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 20, 2018. At a potentially pivotal moment of diplomacy with North Korea, t...

(Hong Gi-won/Yonhap via AP). U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets land at the Osan U.S. Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, March 20, 2018. At a potentially pivotal moment of diplomacy with North Korea, the Pentagon said Monday that annual U.S.-S...

(Hong Gi-won/Yonhap via AP). A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet, bottom, lands at the Osan U.S. Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, March 20, 2018. At a potentially pivotal moment of diplomacy with North Korea, the Pentagon said Monday that an...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Annual U.S.-South Korean military drills that infuriate North Korea will begin on April 1, the allies said Tuesday, but they will likely be more low-key than past years ahead of two highly anticipated summits among the countries' leaders.

This year's drills were postponed during the Pyeongchang Olympics, which saw rare cooperative steps between the rival Koreas after months of confrontation over the North's weapons programs. North Korea considers the exercises an invasion rehearsal and often conducts weapons tests in protest.

After post-Olympics talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean officials said Kim indicated he would accept the maneuvers. Kim also offered to meet personally with President Donald Trump to discuss giving up his nuclear weapons on unspecified terms, and Trump quickly agreed to meet Kim by the end of May. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are to meet separately in late April.

In a brief statement, the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his South Korean counterpart, Song Young-moo, agreed to go forward with the two sets of exercises, known as Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, "at a scale similar to" that of previous years. North Korea has been notified of the schedule "as well as the defensive nature" of the exercises, the Pentagon said.

A ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of department rules, said there are no immediate plans to bring in American strategic assets such as aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered submarines or supersonic B-1B bombers during this spring's training. The United States sent such assets during past drills when tensions ran high.

The exercises begin with Foal Eagle, a field training drill that will last about four weeks, compared with its typical two-month run. The other drill, known as Key Resolve, is a computer-simulated command post exercise and is scheduled to start around the middle of April for a usual two-week run, the South Korean official said.

"These are low-key drills. Now it's a dialogue mode so they are trying to keep pace with that," said Choi Kang, vice president of Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

Choi said North Korea may respond by issuing a relatively mild diatribe but will likely avoid conducting weapons tests that could disrupt its recent outreach to Washington and Seoul.

The timing and size of the annual maneuvers are especially sensitive this year because of heightened worry over the North's accelerated work last year on a nuclear-armed missile potentially capable of reaching the United States. This was followed, unexpectedly, by prospects for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis.

"To avoid compromising exercise objectives, specifics regarding the exercise scenarios will not be discussed," said a Pentagon spokesman, Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Logan. He said the purpose is to enhance the ability of the U.S.-South Korean alliance to defend South Korean territory.

The planned summit meetings have raised hopes for a potential breakthrough in the North Korean nuclear crisis. But many experts say tensions will flare again if the summits fail to make any progress and leave the nuclear issue with few diplomatic options.

A main sticking point in U.S.-North Korea talks would be what nuclear disarmament steps Kim would promise in return for what concessions from the United States and whether Trump would accept them.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Seoul said in January they had agreed with Washington to postpone the regular military exercises to ensure a peaceful Olympics, and the two Koreas held their first formal talks in more than two years ahead of the Games. The South Korean and US militaries usually begin the joint military drills in March. The drills can involve as many as 17,000 US troops and over 300,000 South Koreans. This year's exercises will be held on a similar scale but without key US strategic assets such as nuclear-powered aircraft carriers or bombers, Seoul officials said.

North Korea, which calls the drills a rehearsal for war, has threatened to take "counteraction" against the United States if it holds joint military exercises with South Korea. The secretive state previously unleashed its fury against Mr Trump and accused the USA of aiming to "aggravate the situation on the Korean peninsula at any cost". A warning, pumped out by the communist state's propaganda machine, said the joint drills was America's way to "to bring dark clouds of a war to hang over the Korean Peninsula". Pyongyang’s mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said: "If the US finally holds joint military exercises while keeping sanctions on the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), the DPRK will counter the US by its own mode of counteraction and the US will be made to own all responsibilities for the ensuing consequences.

"The US should clearly understand this and exercise prudence." The US Department of Defence released a statement outlining the “defensive nature” of the planned drills. The statement said: “Secretary of Defence James Mattis and the Republic of Korea Minister of National Defence Song Young-moo have agreed to resume the annual combined exercises including Foal Eagle and Key Resolve which were deconflicted with the schedule of the Olympic Games. “The exercises are expected to resume April 1, 2018, at a scale similar to that of the previous years.

“The United Nations Command has notified the Korean People's Army on the schedule as well as the defensive nature of the annual exercises. “In accordance with the previous practices, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission will observe the exercises to confirm their compliance with the armistice agreement.” Tensions on the Korean peninsula have eased since last year resulting in inter-Korean talks and the North sending a high-level delegation led by Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, and athletes to the Winter Olympic. The warning comes after Seoul and Washington said they will go ahead with already postponed regular joint military exercise after the Winter Olympics and Paralympics being hosted in South Korea, which ends 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. But South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon has now said talks to stage the postponed military drill were moving forward. A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman was quoted by state media KCNA news agency as saying "we will neither beg for dialogue nor evade the military option claimed by the US". The spokesman said: "Whether peace desired by our nation and the rest of the world settles on the Korean peninsula or a situation that no one desires is developed in the vicious cycle of confrontation depends entirely on the attitude of the US."</s>South Korea and the United States will announce plans before April for a postponed joint military drill. This comes after a temporary thaw in relations with North Korea over the Winter Olympics. Grace Lee reports.</s>SEOUL, March 20 (UPI) -- South Korea and the United States have decided to resume their joint military drills next month, while reassuring North Korea that the exercises will be "defense-oriented."

The South Korean military announced Tuesday that Seoul and Washington's defense ministers agreed to launch the annual Foal Eagle and Key Resolve drills on April 1, after they were postponed to avoid an overlap with the Pyeongchang Winter Games period.

Earlier this year, South Korean President Moon Jae-in asked to hold off the exercises until after the Olympics and Paralympics Games in a bid to defuse tensions with North Korea and convince it to participate in the sporting event.

The North has long called for the scrapping of the drills, deeming them a rehearsal for invasion.

However, ahead of Seoul and Washington's respective summits with North Korea, the two allied forces appeared more mindful of Pyongyang.

Seoul says the United Nations Command notified North Korea's Korean People's Army on the schedule as well as the defensive nature of the annual exercises.

Pentagon spokesman Christopher Logan also said in a statement that are defense-oriented and there is no reason for North Korea to view them as a provocation.

He said the drills were not a response to any specific North Korean provocations or the current situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Some 12,200 U.S. troops and 10,000 South Korean soldiers will take part in the month-long Key Resolve drill, which include command and control exercises based on computer simulations.

The Foal Eagle exercise will kick off on April 23 with about 11,500 U.S. troops and 290,000 South Koreans involved in field training.

While the scale of the drills will be similar to those of previous years, the Foal Eagle drill will be a month shorter compared to last year.

According to Yonhap, South Korean officials denied that the drills will be "low key" this year.

"The purpose of the drills and the size of participating troops will be similar to those in previous years. The program will also be similar," a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official told reporters.</s>The United States and South Korea announced today that their annual joint military drills would go ahead next month, with no significant downsize in scale despite an ongoing diplomatic thaw with North Korea. The large-scale exercises involving tens of thousands of ground troops are a perennial source of tension between the two Koreas, with Pyongyang condemning them as provocative rehearsals for an invasion of the North. With talks under way to set up a North-South summit, followed by a proposed face-to-face meet between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, there was speculation that this year’s drills might be scaled back to avoid derailing the discussions. They had already been delayed to avoid clashing with the Pyeongchang Winter Games in the South last month. But Washington and Seoul said the exercises would kick off on April 1 and be “similar” in size to those of previous years. “Our combined exercises are defence-oriented and there is no reason for North Korea to view them as a provocation,” the Pentagon said in a statement, adding that Pyongyang had been informed in advance of the dates and nature of the drills.

According to a senior South Korean envoy who made a rare visit to Pyongyang earlier this month, Kim had made it clear he “understands” the need for the drills to go ahead. Such an acknowledgement is in stark contrast to the Kim regime’s denunciations of the exercises in the past. The North has often responded to the drills with its own military actions, and last year fired four ballistic missiles close to Japan. “Foal Eagle” is a series of field training exercises with approximately 11,500 US forces taking part, together with 290,000 South Korean troops, while “Key Resolve” is a command post exercise using mainly computer-based simulations. The United States has close to 30,000 troops permanently stationed in South Korea. Following an extended period of escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula, the Winter Olympics provided the catalyst for a sudden and very rapid rapprochement that resulted in the announcements of the planned summits.

Those announcements were made by the South Koreans, who have been orchestrating the diplomatic preparations and acting as the messenger between Washington and Pyongyang. Trump’s administration is pushing ahead with plans for a summit before the end of May, but North Korea has yet to independently confirm it even extended an invitation to leadership talks — maintaining a silence that has raised some concerns in Washington and Seoul. According to the South Korean envoy who met with Kim in Pyongyang, the North Korean leader also offered to consider abandoning his nuclear weapons in exchange for US security guarantees, and flagged a halt to all missile and nuclear tests while dialogue was under way.</s>SEOUL/WASHINGTON: The United States and South Korea will resume joint military drills next month, Seoul and Washington said on Tuesday, exercises that will go ahead despite US President Donald Trump’s planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Seoul and Washington said in January they would delay the annual exercises until after the Winter Olympics and Paralympics held in South Korea last month, helping to create conditions for a resumption of talks between South and North Korea. The reclusive North routinely denounces the drills as preparation for war.

The Foal Eagle field exercise is scheduled to begin on April 1 and go on for a month, while the computer-simulated Key Resolve will be held for two weeks starting in mid-April, a South Korean military official told reporters in Seoul on Tuesday. There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity across Asia, the United States and Europe since the North sent delegations to the Winter Olympics, moves that culminated in North Korea’s planned summits with the South and with the United States.

The South Korean and US militaries usually stage the two drills in March for about two months but the period of this year’s field exercise was cut by half, mainly due to the Olympics, said the South Korean official, who asked not to be identified.

The exercises will be of a “scale similar to that of the previous years” and are meant “to improve our readiness against various North Korean threats”, the official said.

North Korea is pursuing nuclear and missile programs in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of reaching the US mainland.

Such plans, and the exchange of insults between Kim and Trump, had led to increased fears of confrontation on the Korean peninsula in recent months before the diplomatic contacts. China, North Korea’s main ally, says it is happy to see an easing of tensions.

The Pentagon said the North Korean military had been notified about the schedule for the drills by the United Nations Command. “Our combined exercises are defence-oriented and there is no reason for North Korea to view them as a provocation,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan said in a statement.

The South Korean official said consultations were underway over whether US strategic assets such as nuclear-powered aircraft carriers or bombers would be deployed for the drills. Logan said the two joint drills would involve about 23,700 US troops and 300,000 South Korean forces. He said they were not in response to any specific North Korean actions or the current situation on the Korean peninsula. The Key Resolve simulated exercises would likely overlap with a summit between the two Koreas, planned for late April, the South Korean official said.

After the postponement of the drills was announced in January, Pyongyang agreed to hold the first official talks with Seoul in more than two years and then sent athletes and officials to the Winter Olympics.

Those talks led to a visit this month by a South Korean delegation to Pyongyang for a meeting with the North Korean leader. Delegation leader Chung Eui-yong, South Korea’s national security adviser, said Kim committed to denuclearization and expressed eagerness to meet Trump as soon as possible, an offer the US president quickly accepted.

Chung said Kim was expected to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April before meeting Trump by the end of May. The two Koreas held working-level talks on Tuesday at the border village of Panmunjom over Seoul’s plan to send an artistic troupe for a concert in Pyongyang. Despite the North’s denunciation of past drills, Chung said Kim understood that the allies must continue their “routine” joint military exercises.

Pyongyang has not confirmed the exchange and threatened earlier this month to take “counteraction” if the United States and South Korea went ahead with the exercises.

The joint drills ran from March 1-April 30 in 2017 and included the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no US aircraft carriers would take part this year, which he said was according to plan and not related to the political situation.
South Korea and the United States announce that the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve military drills will start on April 1 and last for four weeks.