[EDITORIAL] Joint exercise

The Pentagon scaled down the U.S. contingent in the 2010 Key Resolve/Foal Eagle joint military exercise with Korean forces. Unlike in previous years, no aircraft carrier will be deployed in Korean waters during the exercise and the number of U.S. soldiers participating in the drill was reduced to 18,000 from last year`s 26,000. U.S. spokespersons said that the downsizing was only out of operational considerations, but there is speculation that links it to the projected resumption of the six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea.

The North Koreans were apparently not impressed by the change, however, as they reacted more vehemently to the annual event. After issuing "warnings" a couple times since Seoul notified Pyongyang of the exercise schedule, North Korean People`s Army spokesman at Panmunjeom declared an end to military dialogue between the two Koreas.

"Nothing can deter us from responding to the threats of a nuclear offensive on our territory with the nuclear deterrence of our revolutionary armed forces in self-defense," he said.

On the eve of the KR/FE, the North Korean high command ordered the entire army, navy and air force into a state of alert.



As the exercise enters the third day of its two-week schedule, no particular sign of military moves are being detected north of the Demilitarized Zone. They may just be repeating the usual angry reactions shown to the springtime Key Resolve and the Ulchi Focus Lens exercise in autumn. But the North could use the joint exercise as an excuse to delay the six-party talks in its scheme to extract more concessions or rewards from the United States and South Korea.

Key Resolve, as the words imply, is the most visible evidence of the military alliance between South Korea and the United States as the Pentagon spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to the alliance, which has lasted six decades. Key Resolve itself is a command-post exercise with the computer-based simulation of bringing troops and equipment onto the Korean Peninsula in the event of war. More spectacular is the Foal Eagle part of the exercise which features thousands of U.S. troops airlifted here from their duty stations around the world, some in the continental United States.

In the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle 2010, 18,000 U.S. service members, including 8,000 from outside Korea, are engaged in joint maneuvers with Korean armed forces. Historically, it was North Koreans themselves that invited the United States to launch the intercontinental rapid deployment exercises with their series of provocations back in the late 1960s. After a commando raid in Seoul and the capture of the USS Pueblo in January 1968, the North mounted guerrilla attacks and DMZ forays throughout the year.

The long-range deployment and field exercise that started in 1968 has continued to 2010 without interruption, only changing the codename to Freedom Vault, Team Spirit and to Key Resolve. In the long post-Korean War period, relations between Seoul and Washington have had a few bumps but their military cooperation - buttressed by the joint exercises and the annual ministerial-level Security Consultative Meetings - has not been shaken a bit to date.

A major shift in the mode of military alliance is forthcoming with South Korea`s takeover of wartime operational control from the United States in 2012 and the possible employment of the U.S. Forces in Korea in future regional conflicts following the relocation of all USFK to the new Osan-Pyeongtaek base. These changes would require greater operational flexibility for the USFK but they should in no way be allowed to interfere with the maintenance of the U.S. commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea.