The South Korean military and US Pentagon on Tuesday issued differing statements regarding the duration of their upcoming joint military exercises, raising suspicions of an attempt by Seoul to contain possible fallout from the resumption of the drills.

According to the Ministry of National Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff, the postponed joint military exercises will start on April 1, with the field-training Foal Eagle exercise that is to be halved in length from two months to one followed about three weeks later by the computer-based Key Resolve exercise.

The Pentagon and Combined Forces Command in Seoul, however, stressed that the upcoming drills would be held at the same scale and duration as previous iterations, with no mention that the length of the Foal Eagle exercise would be halved.

“The exercises include all services and are of the same scale, scope and duration as previous years,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman. “Key Resolve and Foal Eagle are annual exercises that are the culmination of many months of planning.” 

The US-led Combined Forces Command, which oversees the annual drills with the JCS, also said in a press release Tuesday that the upcoming exercises would take place at a scale “similar to that of the previous years.” 

The differences in the statements by the two countries’ militaries appear to suggest the South Korean military wants to keep the exercise as low-key as possible, as Seoul awaits a diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea in an inter-Korean summit next month and a US-North Korea summit in May.

During a closed-door briefing with reporters, a JCS official said the military had consulted with the US on scaling back the exercise to one month. A decision was made to sustain the peaceful mood following the PyeongChang Olympics, the official added.

However, the official left open the possibility that the exercise schedule could be adjusted depending on consultations between the allies’ militaries, hinting that the Foal Eagle exercise could be longer than a single month.

“There can be flexibility to the exercise schedule as the drill proceeds. ... We have US military augmentee coming all the way from the US mainland and it will take time for them to come back,” another JCS official said.

Along with the Key Resolve exercise, the Foal Eagle training held each spring has regularly infuriated North Korea. The communist state has denounced the drills as preparations for an invasion and responds with provocations in kind, escalating inter-Korean tensions.

According to South Korean delegates visiting Pyongyang this month to meet with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, the young leader told the envoys he would “understand” if the exercise went ahead as planned.

The allies’ militaries reiterated that the exercises had been planned many months in advance, stressing the annual drills are not conducted in response to North Korea’s provocations or the current political situation on the Korean Peninsula.

“Our combined exercises are defense-oriented and there is no reason for North Korea to view them as a provocation,” Pentagon spokesperson Logan said. 
   
“While we will not discuss specifics, the defensive nature of these combined exercises has been clear for many decades and has not changed.  The purpose of the training is to enhance the (South Korea-US) alliance‘s ability to defend (South Korea) and enhance CFC’s interoperability and readiness.”

The number of US troops participating in the exercises is expected to be similar to that of last year. According to the Pentagon, 23,700 US forces will participate, with 12,200 for the Key Resolve exercise and 11,500 for the Foal Eagle exercise.

Last year’s drills -- considered the largest-ever in scope and scale with the participation of US strategic assets -- involved about 23,000 US troops, with 13,000 for Key Resolve and 10,000 for Foal Eagle, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The South Korean and US militaries refused to reveal the US military assets to be deployed during the exercise. During the 2017 exercise, the USS Carl Vinson nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was deployed along with the stealth fighter F-35B.

The respective militaries said the North Korean military was notified of the resumption of the military exercise through the United Nations Command. The Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission will observe the exercises to confirm their compliance with the armistice agreement, they said.

(jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)