By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The Ministry of National Defense Friday dismissed speculation that a South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise slated for later this month may be cancelled or rescheduled due to the second inter-Korean summit from Aug. 28-30.
But North Korea said it would not stand for the large-scale military exercise, warning that the drill could disrupt a nuclear disarmament deal.
South Korea and the United States are scheduled to conduct their annual computerized military exercise, Ulchi Focus Lens (UFL), from Aug. 20-31.
``The schedule of UFL had been decided before the arrangement of the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang,'' Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-ki told reporters. ``We are not considering rescheduling the joint drill at the moment.''
He said the ministry has not received any request on the issue yet from the Ministry of Unification in charge of preparing the summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
The minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade was also firm on the annual drill.
``This year's UFL will be conducted as scheduled. Possible protests from North Korea won't matter much. Such problems will be resolved as time goes by,'' Song told reporters ``Inter-Korean relations should change so that such a military drill won't be a cause for bilateral conflict.
On Thursday, Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung hinted that the annual training exercise could be affected by the summit schedule, saying a government task force for the summit will discuss the matter.
The exercise uses computer-simulated war scenarios to evaluate the ability of both militaries to respond to crises. The upcoming drill will involve 10,000 U.S. forces and an undisclosed number of South Korean troops.
Pyongyang, which has denounced joint drills by the South Korean and U.S. militaries, is likely to demand that Seoul cancel the 2007 UFL at working-level meetings between the two Koreas next week, military sources said.
Seoul and Washington insist the exercise is purely for defensive purposes, while Pyongyang calls it ``a rehearsal for invading North Korea.''
In a related development, North Korea called on the U.S. military to halt UFL, a spokesman for the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) in Seoul said.
At a meeting with representatives from the United Nations Command (UNC) at the truce village of Panmunjeom in the Demilitarized Zone, the North protested the scheduled training exercise, he said.
In a statement carried by the North's official news outlet, Korea Central News Agency, the Stalinist regime said that it would prepare military readiness against the UFL, which it described as a massive war exercise against the North.
`` The KPA (North Korea's army) will actively put into practice its earlier statement that it will do all it can to round off the powerful striking means to cope with the large-scale war manoeuvres,'' the statement said.
It said the U.S. will be held wholly responsible for the catastrophic impact it will have on the implementation of the Feb. 13 agreement and the six-party talks.