US, South Korea ‘to scale down joint military drills’ amid thaw with North Korea
The United States and South Korea have agreed to scale down joint military exercises, a South Korean military source says, as chances increase for finding a diplomatic solution to the Korean crisis.
The US holds military drills with South Korea every year. The so-called Key Resolve and Foal Eagle drills are held every spring and constitute a major irritant to North Korea, which describes them as rehearsals for invasion.
In what seemed like a minor concession to Pyongyang, a South Korean military source announced that Foal Eagle, a field exercise involving tens of thousands of troops, would be held this year as well but would be halved in length from two months to one, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported.
Earlier, a senior official in the South Korean presidential office had said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had told a visiting official from the South that Pyongyang would “understand” if the drills were held again this year.
The date of the drills had been moved backward in order not to irritate North Korea, which had decided to take part in Winter Olympics in the South at about the same time.
A thaw began between the two Koreas when Kim said in his New Year’s address that North Korea was willing to participate in the Olympics and would be willing to talk to South Korea.
Meetings were soon arranged, first between lower-ranking diplomats, and then between a high-level South Korean delegation and Kim in Pyongyang.
US President Donald Trump was briefed by the South Korean officials who met with Kim, and he announced a meeting was being planned between him and the North Korean leader “by May.”
Russia and China have welcomed the prospect of the meeting between Trump and Kim, which would offer a chance to lower the tensions in the region.
The US, opposed to the North Korean weapons programs, has substantial military presence around the Korean Peninsula and has often threatened Pyongyang with military action.
Earlier, the chief official in the delegation that visited the North said Kim had told him that North Korea would abandon its nuclear program and would not conduct missile tests anymore if its security was guaranteed.
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