South Korea’s presidential office on Thursday denied reports it is considering halting joint military drills with US Armed Forces during the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
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President Moon Jae-in gives a speech at an event promoting the Pyeongchang Winter Games held in New York on Sept. 20. During his trip to the US, Moon said that his administration will do all it can to facilitate North Korea`s participation in the games. Cheong Wa Dae |
On Thursday, a number of local media outlets reported that Cheong Wa Dae was working with concerned organizations to postpone drills scheduled during the events, citing unnamed presidential officials. The PyeongChang Winter Games start on Feb. 9, and the Paralympics that follow run until March 18. South Korea-US joint military exercises that may overlap with the games include the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises, which are customarily held in March.
The reports were quickly denied by Cheong Wa Dae.
“The matter of halting South Korea-US military exercises for the duration of the PyeongChang Olympics reported by some outlets this morning has not been discussed nor have any decisions been made,” Yoon Young-chan, the senior presidential secretary for public relations, said in a message to the Cheong Wa Dae press corps.
Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense declined to elaborate on the issue, and also declined to comment on whether joint drills could be seen as violating “building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal” resolution adopted by the UN on Nov. 13.
In the resolution, the UN urged member states to abide by an Olympic truce from a week before the start of the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games until a week after the end of the Paralympics.
The Ministry of Unification echoed Cheong Wa Dae, saying that halting joint drills is not being discussed at present.
A Unification Ministry official declined to comment on whether the ministry could suggest such a move in as part of the efforts to facilitate North Korea’s participation in the games.
The official, however, said that North Korea’s participation is important in making the event “Olympics of peace,” and that the ministry will work with the International Olympic Committee to on the matter.
Seoul has made overtures to North Korea for its participation in the games, but Pyongyang has so far remained unresponsive. North Korea, however, expressed its intent to participate in the Paralympics in May 2016.
North Korean athletes have also won entry into the Olympics figure skating competition.
According to reports citing the IOC, the Olympic and Paralympic games are still open to North Korea regardless of Washington’s decision to relist North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
By Choi He-suk (
cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)
