South Korea, U.S. to begin massive military drills April 1: ministry

They stressed that there will no change in the overall size and program from previous exercises, although a field training period will be halved due to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

The defense chiefs of the allies have agreed to hold the annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle drills in Korea that have been postponed on the basis of the Olympics spirit, the Ministry of National Defense said.

"The practice is slated to begin April 1, and it will be conducted at a similar size to previous years," it added in a three-paragraph press release without providing details on the timetable.

The United Nations Command (UNC) informed North Korea's military of the schedule and the allies' position that it's nothing more than regular training that's defensive in nature, according to the ministry.

As the UNC has no direct communication channel with the North, a UNC official read out a related statement a step away from the Military Demarcation Line at the truce village of Panmunjom, and the North's guards there recorded it on tape.

The South's military also notified the North of the plan via their "Yellow Sea district" hotline.

The Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission plans to observe the drills to confirm whether they are staged in compliance with the Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

More than 100 soldiers from around 10 U.N. sending states plan to take part in the exercise.

The allies used to open the Foal Eagle/Key Resolve exercises in late February or early March, usually for a two-month run.

For this year's practice, South Korea asked the U.S. to reschedule them to avoid provoking the North before and during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Many expect the two sides to wrap up the field maneuver before the leaders of South Korea and North Korea hold summit talks at Panmunjom in late April.

"Key Resolve will take place for about two weeks from mid-April, and Foal Eagle is to run for four weeks," an official at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) told reporters.

The Key Resolve command-post war game is designed to help respond to the North's various threats, and the overall scale and program will be similar to those in previous years, he added.

In connection with Foal Eagle, which involves massive field operations, the two countries' marines are to conduct the Ssangyong (double dragon) exercise on the peninsula from April 1-8. South Korea will field a regime, and the U.S. will send a brigade to it.

About 3,600 U.S. service members were deployed to join the 28,000 American troops already stationed in South Korea for Foal Eagle in 2017, the Pentagon announced at that time.

Approximately 12,200 and 11,500 U.S. troops took part in Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, respectively, together with hundreds of thousands of South Korean soldiers.

Among key assets dispatched were the USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier; USS Columbus, a nuclear-powered submarine; and B-1B strategic bomber.

"With regard to the deployment of strategic assets to this year's exercise, South Korea and the U.S. are in close consultations," the JCS official said.