U.S., South Korea kick off annual joint military exercises after month-long delay

• North, South Korea fix April date for first summit in years
• South Korea President reiterates denuclearization goal, rules out eased sanctions on N.K.

The Foal Eagle field exercise, which usually involves combined ground, air, naval and special operations troops, will continue for a month. The computer-simulated Key Resolve will be held for two weeks starting in mid-April.

A Pentagon spokesman said in March the two joint drills would involve about 23,700 U.S. troops and 300,000 South Korean forces. Military officials in Seoul have said the scale of the exercises would not go beyond those seen in previous years.

The Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises are usually held every year around March but they were postponed this year until after the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and Paralympics, which started in February and ended last month.

North Korea, which has traditionally accused both South Korea and the United States of practising invading the North during joint military drills, has remained quiet on the issue.

In March, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told a visiting South Korean delegation in Pyongyang that he “understands” the situation regarding the joint drills, according to South Korea’s National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong, who had led the delegation.

The joint exercises come roughly a month ahead of an April 27 summit between the two Koreas, their first in more than a decade.

Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are widely expected to discuss denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and improvement of inter-Korean relations at the summit.