S. Korea to hold springtime combined exercises with U.S as planned: defense chief

Seoul (South Korea), January 28: South Korea will stage annual springtime military exercises with the United States as planned, Defense Minister Suh Wook said, amid concerns the drills could give North Korea a pretext for provocations in the early months of U.S. President Joe Biden's administration.
Suh also said that South Korea is ready to discuss the exercise issue with the North via military channels to ease tensions. The minister stressed that the joint exercises with the U.S. are regular and purely defensive in nature.
"We will conduct a combined exercise in the first half of this year as a computer-simulated command post exercise (CPX) without outdoor drills. It is a regular program and for defense purposes," Suh said during a press conference for the new year in Seoul on Wednesday.
"Taking the COVID-19 situation and other related factors into account, we are closely discussing how to conduct it in detail with the U.S. side," he added.
North Korea has long denounced such exercises as a rehearsal for invasion and demanded an end to such drills. Earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un repeated the call during a party congress.
Concerns have arisen, even from within South Korea's government, that the North could cite the upcoming exercises to undertake provocations, such as long-range missile tests, if it decides to do so to test the Biden administration.
Earlier this week, Unification Minister Lee In-young said he hopes the government will come up with a "wise and flexible solution" to the exercise issue to ensure that the situation will not lead to "serious military tensions."
Pro-unification civic groups have also called for suspending the exercises.
The virus situation could affect the plan, but Suh said the situation this year appears to be different from the past, as the U.S. is administering COVID-19 vaccines to its service members, and the two sides have the experience of carrying out a combined exercise in an adjusted manner last year amid the pandemic.
Seoul and Washington usually hold major combined military exercises twice a year, along with smaller-scale ones throughout the year, and the springtime one is supposed to be held around March.
Since 2018, South Korea and the U.S. have either canceled or scaled back joint drills to back diplomacy with North Korea. Last year, they "indefinitely postponed" the springtime program due to concerns over the new coronavirus, and the summertime exercise was held in a scaled-back manner in August.
"The two Koreas are supposed to discuss any issues when a joint military committee is launched. I think that we also could discuss the (South Korea-U.S.) combined exercises with the North if there is any progress (in the committee formation)," Suh said.
South and North Korea agreed to create a committee decades ago, but no discussions have taken place.
The combined exercise also bears significance for Seoul's envisioned retaking of the wartime operational control (OPCON) of its troops from Washington, for which Suh vowed to "make progress before my term ends."
"We will strengthen consultations with the U.S. by having the Biden administration pay more attention to the issue," Suh said.
During the telephone talks with new Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin earlier this week, the two ministers said they will meet at an earliest possible date to discuss pending alliance issues, including the OPCON transition, according to the minister.
Consultation is also under way with the U.S. about the Full Operational Capability (FOC) test, which is meant to check if Seoul is on course to meet the conditions. The test was supposed to be held in 2020, but the two sides were not able to do that due to the COVID-19 situation.
The two sides are working for conditions-based OPCON transition, which means no exact timeframe has been set. But the current Moon Jae-in administration has hoped to retake it within Moon's term that ends in May 2022.
Asked about North Korea's latest military moves after the recent party congress and a military parade, Suh said no imminent signs of North Korea undertaking provocative actions have been detected.
"Our military maintains a posture to deter and respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, and is working to beef up insufficient parts," the minister said.
A senior ministry official added that the communist country appears to be "taking a wait and see posture" after the launch of the new U.S. government as they presented their message during the party congress.
Source: Yonhap