The US and South Korea have decided to cease sharply criticized joint military exercises by North Korea. The field maneuver „Foal Eagle“ – the largest of the annual military exercises – will be terminated as well as the command training „Key Resolve,“ said the US Department of Defense.
The close co-operation of the armed forces of both countries with regard to security risks would be maintained just like the military readiness for action, it was said further. The end of the annual spring maneuvers serves to further diplomatic efforts to fully denuclearize the Korean peninsula, the South Korean Ministry of Defense said, according to the national news agency Yonhap.
The US and South Korea have regularly held military exercises in recent years to test their readiness for conflict in the Korean Peninsula. Their spring maneuvers repeatedly provoked fierce protests from the communist leadership of North Korea, which put the US preparations for attack. The governments in Washington and Seoul have always denied this.
