Korea, US will hold largest-ever joint military drills

By Jun Ji-hye

South Korea and the United States will hold the largest-ever Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises beginning next month, defense officials here said Tuesday.

This may escalate tension on the Korean Peninsula because North Korea has claimed that the joint drills are part of Washington’s preparations for a war against the North.

Last week, Defense Minister Han Min-koo and his U.S. counterpart James Mattis agreed on the need to carry out the strengthened annual exercises this year amid evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. The two defense chiefs made the agreement during their talks in Seoul.

“Working-level officials between the two nations are close to reaching a consensus on expanding the scale of the drills compared to those of last year,” a military official said on condition of anonymity. “The two sides are also exchanging opinions on whether Washington will send its strategic weapons for the drills.”

Last year, 310,000 troops from South Korea and 17,000 from the United States participated in the exercises. Officials are considering increasing the number of American soldiers for the upcoming exercises while maintaining a similar ㅜnumber of South Korean troops.

Key Resolve is a computer simulated command post exercise aimed at improving the combined forces’ operation and combat capabilities to deter threats from the North. The war game is carried out in conjunction with Foal Eagle, a field training exercise.

The U.S. armed forces are also reportedly considering dispatching its strategic assets in a show of force against Pyongyang’s potential provocations. Observers expect Washington to send the B-1B strategic bombers stationed in Guam and the Nimitz-class supercarrier USS Carl Vinson Strike Group that recently arrived at the waters of the Asia-Pacific region after departing its home port in San Diego, Jan. 5.

The U.S. dispatched USS John C. Stennis for last year’s drills.

The Ministry of National Defense said the top defense officials of Seoul and Washington see greater possibility of the North pushing forward with strategic and tactical provocations amid power transitions in the U.S. and South Korea.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Lee Sun-jin also cited the allies’ Key Resolve exercise in March as possible days for such provocations.

The repressive state has long been claiming that the exercises are “dress rehearsals” for a northward invasion with nuclear weapons, having issued threats of harsh retaliation against “hostile” forces.

But the allies have stressed the exercises have been staged on a regular basis and they are defensive in nature, aimed solely at bolstering readiness against a possible invasion by North Korea.