SEOUL, Mar 8 (NNN-YONHAP) – The combined forces of South Korea and the United States kicked off their joint annual military exercises, in a scaled-back manner, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), was quoted as saying.
The Combined Command Post Training (CCPT), or the annually-held computer-simulated command post exercise in springtime, was scheduled to last until Mar 18.
No field manoeuvres will be staged this year, amid the continued pandemic. Tough antivirus measures will be in place throughout the training period, a South Korean military official was quoted as saying.
In 2020, the two sides cancelled the springtime exercise and carried out the summertime one, in an adjusted manner, amid the pandemic.
Boo Seung-chan, a spokesman of South Korea’s defence ministry, told a press briefing that the verification of the Full Operational Capability (FOC) will be limited this year, out of the comprehensive consideration of relevant conditions, such as the COVID-19 situation, combat readiness posture and efforts to settle peace on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea’s wartime command was handed over to the U.S. forces, after the 1950-53 Korean War broke out. South Korea won back its peacetime operational control in 1994.
Seoul and Washington agreed to the conditions-based transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean troops from Washington to Seoul, when South Korea’s military is capable of leading the combined defence on the peninsula.
Boo noted that, this year’s CCPT will involve part of a rehearsal for theatre operations, led by the Combined Forces Command, under the command of a four-star South Korean general.
South Korea claimed that, the joint annual military drills with the United States are defensive in nature, but the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) denounced it as a dress rehearsal for north-ward invasion.– NNN-YONHAP
