SEOUL – The South Korean and U.S. militaries are scaling back their annual exercises this month due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to support diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear program, officials said Sunday.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the allies decided to start the nine-day drills on Monday after reviewing factors like the status of the pandemic and diplomatic efforts to achieve denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
It said the drills are defensive in nature and are mostly tabletop exercises and simulations that won’t involve field training.
Last year, the allies canceled their springtime drills after some of their troops were infected with the coronavirus. In recent years, the countries have also