 The U.S. Department of State said on Tuesday that the Korea-U.S. joint military exercise, which has been conducted annually for decades, should not affect six-party talks to resolve North Korea’s nuclear issue.
In response to the North’s criticism of the Korea-U.S. joint military exercise, Tom Casey, deputy spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, said, “We have always been exercising, and joint military exercises between Korea and the united States have been conducted many times since the beginning of the six-party talks, but I don’t know that the military exercises have ever affected, or changed the result of the six-party talks.”
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 Key Resolve |
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Key Resolve is a joint/combined command-post exercise designed to provide training for the ROK-US Combined Forces Command in the various aspects of Reception, Staging, onward Movement, and Integration of forces from bases outside of the country. Until 2007, it had been called RSOI (Reception, Staging, onward movement, and Integration). South Korean and U.S. forces practice rapid deployment of U.S. troop reinforcements to Korea in the event of war on the Korean peninsula. The other major annual joint military exercise between the two countries is the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian (UFG), which is the integration of military exercise and the government’s response to any contingency. Until last year, it was also called Ulchi Focus Lens. The joint military exercises, both of which started in 1994, have been renamed for the first time in 14 years.
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| Foal Eagle |
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Foal Eagle counter-infiltration exercise is a combined annual field training exercise for Korean and U.S. forces. It is the Combined Forces’ Command’s primary FTX. The joint and combined field-training exercise is to be linked with Key Resolve as it has been linked with RSOI for the past several years. The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint exercises for 2008 are called “KR/FE 08.”
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| KR/FE 08 |
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KR/FE 08 is to be conducted across the country from March 2 through 7. The annual joint military exercise is a defense-oriented exercise which focuses on 1) exercise of air-borne reinforcements between Korea and the United States in preparation for war on the Korean peninsula, 2) practice exercise with Korean Air Force control officer aboard, and 3) the potential need to revise the Mutual Air Services Agreement (MASA) between the two countries, among other things.
According to the Combined Forces Command, KR/FE 08 includes a full range of conventional equipment, capabilities, and personnel. Foal Eagle is the command’s theater-wide joint and combined field training exercise and includes select training events. These defensive field exercises are designed to help teach, coach and mentor younger Service members while exercising senior leaders’ decision-making capabilities to protect the ROK against external aggression.
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| North Korea’s Protest |
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North Korea has strongly denounced the joint military exercise as a “war game aimed at a northward invasion.” An unidentified spokesman for North Korea’s truce village of Panmunjeom warned in a statement, “Should the hostile forces of South Korea and the United States try to collapse us militarily, the Chosun People’s Army will retaliate using all measures that we have costly prepared for a long time.” The CFC, however, stresses the annual military exercise is a defensive oriented exercise and designed to improve the command’s ability to defend South Korea against external aggression. In fact, the CFC has informed North Korea of the joint exercise. It has already unveiled or plans to unveil the U.S. forces and actual exercise process to North Korea. The 93,000-ton USS Nimitz and the USS Ohio, a nuclear-powered submarine with Tomahawk guided cruise missile, are opened to the media. Shooting, bridge-installation, emergency aid and relief exercises have also been or will be unveiled. By speaking to the media, the CFC intends to stress the annual exercise is defense-oriented, while at the same time giving a warning to North Korea. |