The vast military exercise Foal Eagle is expected to begin by the end of the month.
As the White House prepares for what could be the first meeting between a sitting U. S. president and a North Korean leader, the U. S. and South Korean militaries will carry out exercises that Pyongyang has long called provocative but now appears to accept.
South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong announced Thursday at the White House that in addition to President Trump agreeing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by May, Kim pledged that North Korea will refrain from additional nuclear or missile tests and “understands that the routine joint military exercises between the Republic of Korea and the United States must continue.”
The latter acknowledgment marked a significant shift for the Kim regime. Each spring, the United States and South Korea launch military exercises known as Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, and the Kim regime has typically reacted angrily. The exercises there are seen as preparation for an attack on Pyongyang, while the South Koreans and Americans characterize them as defensive in nature.
Last year, North Korea fired four ballistic missiles toward Japan in what was widely seen as a response to the exercises.
