South Korea-US joint military exercise may be held in March, the US Department of Defense emphasizes the importance of joint exercises

According to a report from Korea Broadcasting International (KBS) on the 24th, the US Department of Defense officially stated its position, emphasizing the importance of the South Korean-US joint military exercise.

According to reports, the spokesperson of the US Department of Defense said in response to a written question about whether the South Korean-US joint military exercise will be held as scheduled in March, saying that US Secretary of Defense Austin attaches the greatest importance to the military response. The U.S. Department of Defense particularly emphasized that the South Korean-U.S. joint military exercise is a core means to confirm the posture of the two countries’ joint preparations.

The United States reiterated that the basic purpose of the exercise is not to provoke, but to defend.

The U.S. Department of Defense also stated that it will determine the specific scale and timing of the exercise after consultation with the South Korean government.

As usual, South Korea and the United States usually hold two large-scale joint military exercises from March to April and August each year. Affected by the epidemic, the joint command post exercise to be held from March to April 2020 was indefinitely postponed, and the scale of the joint exercise in August was also reduced.