Pentagon said Armed forces readiness is the top concern.
The U.S. Department of Defense has declared its stance that joint army workouts will certainly not be postponed or scaled down except for inevitable reasons, such as COVID-19. An official claimed the South Korean marriage preacher’s suggestion to postpone joint armed forces drills is uneasy because U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) have actually currently begun providing COVID-19 vaccination to usfk-affiliated and armed forces employees.
In a meeting with The Dong-A Ilbo, Pentagon spokesperson John Supple shot down the comments by South Korea‘s Unification Minister Lee In-young that hinted at delaying the scheduled joint armed forces exercises to improve inter-Korean connections by claiming armed forces preparedness is the primary top priority of the defense division. Supple stated North Korea’s continued advancement of ballistic as well as nuclear missiles is posturing a danger to the Korean Peninsula and the U.S. and the joint armed forces exercise is a significant way to make certain the preparedness of the partnership. The spokesman took place to claim that the exercises are non-provocative and completely defensive, and purpose to keep the readiness of the partnership so that they are ready to combat tonight. Supple included that both sides (South Korea and also the U.S.) will certainly decide on the scale, range, and timing of the joint armed forces workouts with these factors to consider in mind.
In the middle of warmed debates regarding the need to delay or scale down the arranged ROK-U.S. joint military exercises in March, the U.S. Department of Defense shared an unfavorable position over the issue. In particular, the Pentagon abnormally used the term “non-provocative” to explain the nature of the joint army drills in stressing the requirement to carry out the exercises.
The Pentagon has to have stressed that ROK-U.S. joint army exercises are non-provocative and also defensive ahead of the arranged joint armed forces drills in order to stress and anxiety that the drills do not hinder of boosting inter-Korean relationships or promoting inter-Korean dialogue. It is also a refutation to the disagreements of South Korean public teams, such as the Southern Committee on June 15th Joint Declaration, that the joint army drills are a costly and really provocative war technique.
