Seoul agrees to abolish major military drills with US

ANKARA

South Korea has agreed to end two large-scale military drills with U.S. replacing them will smaller-scale trainings in the backdrop of denuclearization process of Korean peninsula, media reports said.

Washington on Sunday announced suspension of joint military drills with Seoul, however, the two countries launched a smaller week-long military exercise today, Korean news agency Yonhap said.

These joint exercises are a major irritant for North Korea which views them as invasion rehearsals.

According to Yonhap, the decision to replace the major military drills was to “spur peace efforts with North Korea”.

South Korea's National Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong Doo spoke to acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan on Saturday and the two agreed to end key springtime joint military drills -- Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, NBC News quoted a statement from Pentagon.

Key Resolve and Foal Eagle military drills will be replaced by smaller training exercises, it added.

The smaller-scale Dong Maeng (Alliance) command post exercise will run through March 12.

The much-hyped Hanoi summit on denuclearization of Korean peninsula between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un failed last week. Trump walked out of the summit saying Pyongyang wanted “complete lifting of sanctions which he could not do”. However, this statement of Trump was contradicted by North Korean officials.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said that the reorganization of the allies' springtime drills “will not affect their combined readiness”.

“We believe there is no problem at all when it comes to the actual combined defense posture that will be maintained through the new command post exercise and revised field training programs,” Yonhap quoted Choi Hyun-soo, Seoul's Defense Ministry spokeswoman.

“Even though the exercise's duration will be truncated, there will be no problem in our efforts to achieve the practical goals [of the drills],” she added.