SEOUL: The United States and South Korea will begin small-scale military drills on Monday (Nov 5) that were delayed during talks with North Korea,…
SEOUL: The United States and South Korea will begin small-scale military drills on Monday (Nov 5) that were delayed during talks with North Korea, days after Pyongyang threatened to restart work on its nuclear programme if international pressure does not ease.
The Korean Marine Exchange Programme was among the training drills that were indefinitely suspended in June after US President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore and promised to end joint, US-South Korea military exercises often criticised by the North.
A spokesman for South Korea’s Ministry of Defence confirmed a round of training would begin near the southern city of Pohang, with no media access expected.
About 500 American and South Korean marines will participate in the manoeuvres, the Yonhap news agency reported.
In Washington last week, South Korea’s defence minister said Washington and Seoul would make a decision by December on major joint military exercises for 2019. Vigilant Ace, suspended earlier this month, is one of several such exercises that have been halted to encourage dialogue with Pyongyang.
The biggest combat-readiness war game ever staged in and around Japan has gone ahead, however, with nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan joining Japanese destroyers and a Canadian warship in the ocean off Japan – another key player in the effort to pressure North Korea.
