Yahoo News
South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to conduct joint military exercises beginning next month in the latest effort to deter North Korea’s Kim Jong Un from launching nuclear missiles, military officials said Wednesday.
U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis and his Seoul counterpart Han Min Koo agreed while meeting in Seoul last week to the military exercises. The annual event, which will take place in central South Korea, consists of field-training exercises, including air, land and sea elements. It will also include missile defense drills.
“Working-level officials between the two nations are close to reaching a consensus on expanding the scale of the drills compared to those of last year,” a military official said on condition of anonymity. “The two sides are also exchanging opinions on whether Washington will send its strategic weapons for the drills.”
The military exercises were approved in November 2015 and the drills started in 2016, according to local reports. The events are a “routine and defense-oriented exercise designed to enhance readiness, protect the region and maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula,” Maj. Chris Ophardt, U.S. Army Secretary Eric Fanning’s public affairs officer, said in an email last year, according to the Guardian.
