Asia

S Korea, US to Resume Drills Halted to Foster Peace With Pyongyang - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - On November 5, South Korea and the United States will resume regular joint drills under the Korea Marine Exercise Program (KMEP), suspended since May, in order to give way to a diplomatic settlement of the North Korean crisis, the Yonhap news agency reported.
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According to the Yonhap news agency, the KMEP drills will last two weeks off the South Korean city of Pohang.

The parties plan to hold 24 rounds of the exercise until September next year, the media added.

The report comes a day after North Korea threatened to revive the nuclear program unless Washington lifts economic sanctions against the DPRK.

South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and US Secretary of Defense James Mattis decided earlier in October to suspend the Vigilant Ace military exercise scheduled for later this year in order to enable the diplomatic process with North Korea to continue.

READ MORE: Seoul Proposed to Form Unified Teams With N Korea at 2020 Olympics — Reports

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The long-standing tensions on the Korean Peninsula started to ease after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his commitment to denuclearize the country, and held historic summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump earlier in the year.

Pyongyang secured Washington's commitment to suspend US-South Korean drills in exchange for a promise to conduct denuclearization of the peninsula. However, the settlement has somewhat slowed down over the past several months.

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