In this March 12, 2016, file photo, Marines of the U.S., left, and South Korea, wearing blue headbands on their helmets, take positions after landing on a beach during the joint military combined amphibious exercise, called Ssangyong, part of the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle military exercises, in Pohang, South Korea. (Associated Press/Yonhap/Kim Jun-bum)
TOKYO — In recent years, thousands of U.S. and South Korean soldiers met face-to-face on a mock battlefield to prepare for a potential attack from North Korea.
Now, after President Donald Trump scrapped the biggest joint exercises, the bulk of the newly designed "Alliance" drill taking place through March 14 will involve senior officers sitting in front of computers for what's known as a "command post exercise." While the army won't provide exact figures, many soldiers who took part in previous years will be on the sidelines.
"It's like putting together a national baseball team by having professional players practice alone instead of together," said Kim Ki-ho, a former colonel in South Korea's army who oversaw military operation planning at the Combined Forces Command.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has restored part of a missile launch site it began to dismantle after pledging to do so in a first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump last year, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency and two U.S. think tanks reported on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sit down before their one-on-one chat during the second U.S.-North Korea summit at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam February 27, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis
The press has universally declared this week's summit between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam a "failure." From the headlines of the New York Times and Washington Post to the Blob, Trump has been indicted for diplomatic malpractice. As Richard Haass summarized the matter: "The Hanoi summit showed the dangers of a president who over-personalizes diplomacy."
If this were just another card in the political war between Trump and the anti-Trumpers, I would not be moved to comment. But since the issue of North Korea's nuclear program is one that could lead to a nuclear bomb exploding in an American city, the U.S. government's efforts to prevent that really matters. So, here are my four takeaways.
The Pentagon is permanently canceling the large-scale military exercises in South Korea usually held in the spring, U.S. officials said Friday, handing Pyongyang a long-sought concession only days after a summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un broke up without a deal.
The timing of the decision raised questions about whether Trump was giving away a major piece of leverage over North Korea, which has long denounced the exercises as provocative, and failing to get anything in return.
(Reuters) - The family of Otto Warmbier, the American student who died after having been imprisoned in North Korea, blamed Kim Jong Un for their son's death on Friday, reacting to U.S. President Donald Trump's statement that he accepted the leader's claims to have been unaware of the case.
U.S. Marines with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 252 help Marines with Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron (VMFAT) 501 with the aerial refueling of F-35B Lightning II aircraft over Florida Oct. 2, 2012. (U.S. Marine Corps/Sgt. Gabriela Garcia)
The Defense Department is weighing a plan to deploy F-35 fighters to hover on the outskirts of North Korea airspace and neutralize intercontinental ballistic missiles shortly after launch, Reuters reports.
