SEOUL — South Korea and the United States kicked off their annual joint military exercises on Sunday after they were delayed by about a month for the Winter Olympics and to help create conditions for a resumption of talks between North and South Korea.
The “Foal Eagle” field exercise, which usually involves combined ground, air, naval and special operations troops, will continue for a month.
The computer-simulated “Key Resolve” will be held for two weeks starting in mid-April.
A Pentagon spokesman said in March the two joint drills would involve about 23,700 American troops and 300,000 South Korean forces.
Military officials in Seoul have said the scale of the exercises would not go beyond those seen in previous years.
The “Foal Eagle” and “Key Resolve” exercises are usually held every year around March but they were postponed this year until after the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics, which started in February and ended last month.
UNUSUALLY QUIET
North Korea, which has traditionally accused both South Korea and the US of practising invading the North during joint military drills, has remained quiet on the issue.
Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told a visiting South Korean delegation in Pyongyang that he “understands” the situation regarding the joint drills with the US, according to South Korea’s National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong, who had led the delegation.
The joint US-South Korea military exercises come roughly a month ahead of an April 27 summit between the two Koreas, their first in more than a decade.
Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are widely expected to discuss denuclearization of the Korean peninsula as well as improvement of inter-Korean relations at the upcoming summit. — Reuters

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