South Korea may reschedule spring war games

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South Korea is consulting with the US about rescheduling next year's spring war games on the Korean Peninsula that may coincide with the South Korea-hosted PyeongChang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, said government officials.

An unidentified South Korean government source was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying Thursday that the South Korean military was considering consultations with the US side to avoid the coincidence of the Key Resolve command post exercise between the two allies and the PyeongChang Winter Olympic.

The PyeongChang Winter Olympic was scheduled to last from Feb 9 to Feb 25 next year at the namesake city in the country's eastern province of Gangwon. The Paralympic Games would follow from March 9 to March 18.

South Korean soldiers set off to the drill site on March 7, 2016 in Pohang, South Korea. /Xinhua Photo‍

The South Korea-hosted winter sports event was widely forecast to coincide with the US-South Korea spring war games as the joint military exercises tend to kick off in mid-March every year and last by the end of April.

In 2017, the Key Resolve computer-simulated exercise between combined forces of South Korea and the US kicked off in mid-March, mobilizing a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier and strategic bombers. It was followed by the Foal Eagle field training exercise that continued by the end of April.

In protest, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) test-fired ballistic missiles during the war game period as Pyongyang denounced it as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion.

Seoul now feared that if the joint military drills with the US were conducted during the Winter Olympic period, the DPRK might resume provocation, re-escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the Yonhap report said.

The South Korean army drill site at Pohang sea area in South Korea on March 7, 2016. /Xinhua Photo

Seoul has offered to Pyongyang participating in the PyeongChang Winter Olympic as it believed the participation would help defuse military tensions on the peninsula and turn soured inter-Korean relations into a thawing mood.

South Korea submitted a so-called truce resolution in September, which was approved by the UN General Assembly on Nov. 13 to appeal for a suspension of any conflict in the world during the PyeongChang Olympic period.

If Seoul conducts a massive military exercise with Washington during the winter sports event, it would damage the significance of the resolution and hurt the Olympic spirit.

The South Korean army drill site in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea on March 7, 2016. /Xinhua Photo

The United Nations has, since 1993, adopted Olympic truce resolutions every two years to honor peace, one of the Olympic spirits.

An unnamed official with the presidential Blue House of South Korea was quoted by Yonhap as saying that halting the South Korea-US war games in the Winter Olympic period is one of the options that can be reviewed.

The provincial government of Gangwon reportedly called for South Korea's defense ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to consider rescheduling next year's spring war games with the US forces. The ministry and JCS were currently reviewing the rescheduling request.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency