"50% Reduction in US-South Korea Joint Outdoor Drills at the Request of a Key Minister".. To Be Re-discussed After the Summit

[Financial News] The adjustment plan for the US-South Korea joint exercise requested by Minister of Unification Jeong Dong-young to President Lee Jae-myung was accepted despite opposition from the Ministry of National Defense. As a result, the outdoor maneuver exercise (FTX), which North Korea strongly opposed during the August US-South Korea joint exercise, will be reduced by 50%. The Ministry of National Defense had opposed any changes to the US-South Korea joint exercise. However, with the acceptance of the adjustment plan for the August US-South Korea joint exercise, Minister Jeong is being evaluated as a key minister in the Lee Jae-myung administration. 
The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the US-South Korea Combined Forces Command announced on the 7th that the scale of the outdoor maneuver exercise during the August US-South Korea joint exercise will be reduced by half. The command post exercise (CPX), which is mainly simulation-based, will be conducted as is, but it is reported that only 20 out of 40 outdoor maneuver exercises, which North Korea has opposed, will be conducted. The remaining outdoor maneuver exercises that will be conducted as is are those directly linked to the CPX scenario or cases where US military equipment has already entered the Korean Peninsula. It is reported that the resumption of the 20 postponed outdoor exercises will be finalized in September after the US-South Korea summit. President Lee and President Donald Trump are expected to hold a summit around the 25th at the White House in Washington DC to discuss North Korean denuclearization and North Korea policy, which are directly related to the security of the Korean Peninsula.  
 A high-ranking official from the Ministry of Unification evaluated the reduction of the US-South Korea joint exercise as a result of adjusting the training schedule for easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The official said, "Easing tensions and peace and stability are also the goals of the Ministry of Unification and the goals of the Lee Jae-myung administration and the Republic of Korea," adding, "We hope the US-South Korea joint exercise will also contribute to easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula."
 There is also growing expectation that a conciliatory policy towards North Korea will emerge along with a change in the role of US forces in Korea around the US-South Korea summit. Given the precedent of dialogue between President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un, there is speculation that there will be a message containing the will for dialogue this time as well.
President Trump publicly expressed his intention to suspend the US-South Korea joint exercise shortly after the first US-North Korea summit with Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea in June 2018.
At the time, President Trump said, "The US-South Korea joint exercise is a huge financial burden on the United States, and suspending it would result in tremendous cost savings." After President Trump's remarks, the US-South Korea joint exercise was largely suspended, and alternative mock exercises and small-scale exercises were mainly conducted. However, with the advent of the Joe Biden administration, large-scale live exercises resumed, and the US-South Korea-Japan trilateral exercises also began.
Minister Jeong also expressed the opinion that the US should take the lead in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. 
According to the Ministry of Unification, Minister Jeong said in a keynote speech at the World Korea Forum video conference, "The United States is the only country in the world that does not recognize North Korea as a state, and North Korea has regarded the world's largest military power as an adversary for 75 years." He mentioned that the North Korean nuclear issue arose because the hostile relationship between North Korea and the US has not been resolved.
He argued that there is still a demand for US-North Korea dialogue between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea.
He predicted that the Trump administration would utilize North Korea's concerns about regime security. Minister Jeong said, "Nothing in the world is unchangeable," and expressed optimism that North Korea's current policy of hostility towards the South would eventually change.  



rainman@fnnews.com Kim Kyung-soo Reporter