Seoul, August 5: The United States and South Korea are to slated to kick-off their joint annual military drills on Monday in defiance of North Korea claiming the “war games” will proportionally jeopardize the nuclear negotiations between Washington DC and Pyongyang.
“Our joint exercise to verify (Seoul’s) capabilities for its envisioned retaking of wartime operational control is being prepared,” a South Korean defence ministry official said.
According to Al-Jazeera news reports, the military drills expected to have a focus over verifying South Korea’s capabilities for its possible repatriating of wartime control of its armed forces from the US. However, it didn’t confirm the exercises began today.
Last year, the defence ministry of South Korea has said it wants to have a smaller joint military exercise with the US in the upcoming year, to exercise larger as a part of an effort to boost its nuclear diplomacy with North Korea.
As tensions at the Korean peninsula eased, a number of combined military force exercises had been suspended by the allies, and Washingtonsout had begun its talks with Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear program.
The proposed plan had been expected to affect summer exercise called as Ulchi Freedom Guardian, the exercise which had been suspended by the allies last year.
At the media briefing, Moon had said the strong defence system of South Korea has underpinned “a new chapter of history of peace on the Korean peninsula”.
North and South Korean’s leaders had three summits where they signed an agreement to establish no-fly zone, removed guard posts and landmines nearby their guarded border.
Shin Beom-chul, a senior at the Asian Institute for policy studies in Seoul, said, “If no progress is made by the summer, the United States would face substantial pressure at home and could try to restart the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise.”