South Korea’s defense minister said on Tuesday that South Korea together with the United States is going to announce their plans before April for a postponed joint military drill.
Previously, both nations agreed to postpone their regular joint military exercise until the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, hosted in South Korea, end on March 18. Just after the decision to delay the joint exercise was made, North Korea agreed to hold the first official talks with South Korea while sending athletes to the Winter Games.
Defence Minister Song Young-moo told South Korean parliament he and his U.S. counterpart, Jim Mattis will be making the announcement between March 18 and the start of April.
“The exercise was postponed according to the spirit of the Olympics,” Song said. “We have agreed to uphold the basis until after the Paralympics…and not to confirm nor deny anything regarding what we would do after that until we announce it.”
Reuters reported that Song added that inter-Korean talks had not come about as a direct result of the postponed drill. However, Pyongyang has warned it would not sit idle if the United States and South Korea push ahead with the postponed military exercises.
According to Reuters, the South Korean and U.S. military usually hold military exercises called Key Resolve and Foal Eagle in March and April, which can involve as many as 17,000 U.S. troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans. Unification Minister for South Korea Cho Myong-gyon stated that the talks to stage the postponed military drill were moving forward.
“I‘m aware negotiations are moving towards a direction where the drills will be held,” Cho said in a separate parliamentary session on Tuesday.
However, the North’s official KCNA news agency said in a commentary on Monday that “a restart of the joint drill is an act of ruthlessly trampling even a small sprout of peace that has been now seen on the Korean peninsula.”
“It is a provocative act of chilling the active efforts of the DPRK and enthusiasm of the international community to defuse tension and create a peaceful environment.”
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