[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] Large-Scale South Korea-US Joint Exercises Starting from the 22nd of Next Month

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The first South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise since the launch of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration will be held on the 22nd of next month. It is expected to signal the resumption of exercises that were consecutively canceled or scaled down under the Moon Jae-in administration under the pretext of "inducing North Korea's denuclearization."

According to military officials on the 11th, South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to conduct a large-scale South Korea-U.S. Combined Command Post Training (CCPT) from the 22nd of next month to September 1. During this period, a large-scale field training exercise will also be conducted simultaneously.

This exercise is based on an agreement between the two heads of state. In the joint statement following the summit in May, South Korea and the U.S. stated, "Considering North Korea's evolving threats, the two leaders agreed to initiate consultations to expand the scope and scale of combined exercises and training on and around the Korean Peninsula."

Until before 2018, the South Korea-U.S. military conducted three major large-scale joint exercises annually?Key Resolve (KR), Foal Eagle (FE), and Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG)?to prepare for a full-scale war scenario in case of a North Korean invasion. However, now these exercises are conducted twice a year, before and after mid-year, under the name CCPT.

The change of the exercise name to "Command Post Training" is also under consideration. During the previous administration, as North Korea criticized the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises and continued provocations, the word "alliance" was removed from the exercise name considering the potential impact on future North Korea-U.S. working-level talks and inter-Korean relations. The military plans to rename the exercises as joint exercises or alliance exercises starting from the second half of this year.