Seoul, Washington to halt military drills when Kim-Moon meet

Seoul, April 26: Seoul and Washington will halt their military drills on Friday when the leaders of North and South Korea meet, a defence ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. The Army would extend full support to the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in to ensure the meeting was held in an atmosphere of stability, the spokesperson told Efe news. It was decided that the first part of the Key Resolve drills, which started on Monday, would conclude on Thursday and the second part, which would last approximately one week, would start after the summit.

The allies have already concluded the Foal Eagle exercises, which began on April 1 and were deliberately cut to half their normal duration of a month amid the rapprochement with North Korea. Pyongyang has long denounced the joint drills in South Korea as a rehearsal to invade its territory and on many occasions responded with missile tests, but this year the exercises have the nod of the North Korean regime, which reportedly agreed to their conduct during a meeting with South Korean officials in March. (IANS)

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