ROK-US military drills delayed amid virus concerns

South Korea and the US postponed their annual joint military exercises Thursday, following a coronavirus outbreak that has sickened about 1,800 and killed 13 people in Korea, as of Thursday afternoon.

The drills scheduled for March were put off until further notice for the safety of all service members, according to the joint statement from Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and United States Forces Korea on Thursday. It was the first time the annual war game was postponed over an infectious disease.

Gen. Park Han-ki, chairman of Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, initially proposed the delay the previous week, shortly after the military first reported COVID-19 infections among its personnel. Gen. Robert Abrams, USFK commander, agreed.

 “Our combat readiness is not weakened even if the joint drills are postponed,” Korea’s Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said Wednesday, while visiting Washington for talks with US Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

The combat readiness of the combined forces remains steadfast regardless of any decision the allies make on the joint exercises, because readiness would have been enhanced in one way or the other through other training available, Korea’s Defense Ministry said.

The drills, slated for March 9, involve a command post exercise that tests the combat readiness of top commanders and senior staff of both sides in computer-based war games against North Korea. Seoul and Washington have held the drills since the 1950-53 Korean War armistice to rein in aggression from Pyongyang.

US officials earlier told CNN that the US could compromise its capability to perform highly coordinated and synchronized operations with Korea if the joint drills are cut back as they were in August 2018.

As of press time, South Korea’s military reported 25 infections and quarantined about 10,000 personnel. USFK reported two infections. A service member at Camp Carroll in North Gyeongsang Province, and a widow of a former service member who visited Daegu tested positive.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)