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Seoul cancels own military training详情
By Lee Min-hyung
Seoul is on track to reduce or cancel planned military drills in line with the ongoing inter-Korean tension-easing despite concerns the move may weaken defense readiness here.
Last week, the Pentagon said Washington and Seoul will suspend their upcoming joint air defense exercise, Vigilant Ace, scheduled to take place in December, as part of a bargaining chip for North Korea to speed up its denuclearization.
The decision came amid the rare peace gesture from Pyongyang which has in recent months urged Seoul and Washington to stop their joint annual drills. The regime has viewed such joint drills as a potential security threat, calling it the biggest stumbling block to prevent inter-Korean reconciliation.
Aside from the Seoul-Washington joint drills, South Korea has also decided to cancel its own military training. The biannual drill, taking place on the South's East Sea area, was supposed to take place next month, but the military decided to cancel it following an inter-Korean military agreement last month.
Under the agreement, South Korea set a buffer zone spanning 80 kilometers in the East Sea, as part of efforts to alleviate maritime military tension with North Korea.
"Starting from Nov. 1, South Korea cannot conduct a planned exercise there due to the military agreement," a government official said, asking for anonymity. "The Army, however, plans to hold an artillery drill by shifting the venue in a bid to maintain combat readiness."
The Army and the Navy have joined forces to conduct the drill each year in April and November with a view to keeping a solid defense posture in the face of possible military provocations from North Korea.
The decision is not the first of its kind, as the South Korean government is in a position to stop provoking the North to extend the dialogue momentum and keep the regime on the dialogue table.
In June this year, Seoul and Washington decided to suspend their joint large-scale Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) exercise scheduled to kick off in August. Seoul and Washington have reached a consensus over the suspension in return for North Korea's pledge to realize what it calls the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for his southern counterpart President Moon Jae-in to take corresponding "peace-building" measures during their summit talks which were held three times this year.
In a recent European tour, President Moon also asked for international society to ease tough sanctions imposed on the North, so that Kim Jong-un can continue taking steps for peace on the peninsula.