US, South Korea To Modify Springtime's Joint Military Drills To Appease North - Reports

US, South Korea to Modify Springtime's Joint Military Drills to Appease North - Reports

Washington and Seoul plan to boost denuclearization diplomacy with Pyongyang by further limiting this spring's joint military drills, which have long vexed North Korea, South Korean media said, citing the country's Defense Ministry, on Tuesday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2020) Washington and Seoul plan to boost denuclearization diplomacy with Pyongyang by further limiting this spring's joint military drills, which have long vexed North Korea, South Korean media said, citing the country's Defense Ministry, on Tuesday.

"If diplomatic efforts are under way, we will conduct (the drills) within the bounds to be agreed upon between the South and the US," a senior Defense Ministry official was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

The allies agreed last year to replace routine Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises with a computer-simulated command post exercise after the North repeatedly accused them of preparing for an invasion.

They plan to go further this year by conducting regiment-level maneuvers separately. US and South Korean battalions and their subordinate units will train together as usual, according to the military official, cited by the outlet.

Talks between the United States and North Korea on how to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula stalled last year. The US ignored the end-of-the-year deadline to come up with a new proposal that would have lifted economic sanctions on the North.