S. Korea, US to scale back combined exercise set to kick off

South Korea and the United States will launch a major combined exercise next week in a scaled-back manner due to concerns over the new coronavirus, sources said Thursday.

The joint computer-simulated command post training is expected to kick off next week, but Seoul and Washington have yet to announce how they will stage the annual exercise.

The South has sought, unsuccessfully, to include a Full Operational Capability (FOC) test in the upcoming exercise -- a crucial step necessary for the country to take back wartime operational control (OPCON) of its forces from Washington.

"As US troops necessary to take part in the testing could not come, we decided to postpone testing the FOC to the second half," a source said.

The South Korean authorities have called for the FOC test to be a key feature of the exercise. But the US military has reportedly maintained that the exercise should be focused on checking and strengthening their combined readiness posture.

The test was supposed to be held last year, but the two sides were not able to do so due to the COVID-19 situation.

The defense ministry said Thursday that Seoul and Washington have yet to finalize the date, content and other details of the exercise.

"South Korea and the US are closely discussing how to hold the exercise in consideration of COVID-19 and other situations," deputy ministry spokesperson Col. Moon Hong-sik said during a regular press briefing.

The two countries usually carry out major combined exercises twice a year, in spring and summer, along with smaller-scale drills throughout the year.

But they "indefinitely" postponed the springtime program last year over the pandemic, and the summertime exercise was held in a scaled-back manner in August.

The upcoming exercise has drawn attention amid concern that North Korea could use it as a pretext for provocations in the early months of the administration of US President Joe Biden.

Pyongyang has long denounced such drills as a rehearsal for invasion, though Seoul and Washington have stressed that they are regular ones that are defensive in nature. (Yonhap)