THE South Korean and U.S. militaries are scaling back their annual exercises this month due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to support diplomacy focusing on the DPRK’s nuclear program, officials said yesterday.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the allies decided to start the nine-day drills today after reviewing factors like the status of the pandemic and diplomatic efforts to achieve denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

It said the drills are defensive in nature and are mostly tabletop exercises and simulations that won’t involve field training. Last year, the allies canceled their springtime drills after some of their troops were infected with the coronavirus. In recent years, the countries have also suspended or downsized many of their regular training to create more space for the now-stalled U.S.-led diplomatic drive to convince the DPRK to denuclearize in return for economic and political incentives.

U.S.-South Korea drills have been a major source of animosities on the peninsula, with the DPRK viewing them as invasion rehearsals and responding with its own weapons tests.

In January, DPRK leader Kim Jong Un urged the U.S. to withdraw its hostile policy and South Korea to end drills with the U.S., warning the fate of their relations with the DPRK depends on how they behave.

Some experts have said Kim may resume high-profile missile tests and raise tensions if he feels provoked by the upcoming drills.

The nuclear negotiations have been stalled for about two years since a February 2019 summit between Kim and then U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed due to wrangling over U.S.-led sanctions on the DPRK. The government of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, which facilitated the early part of the U.S.-DPRK talks, has been calling for the diplomacy’s restart and greater inter-Korean ties.

(SD-Agencies)