U.S. to end large-scale military drills with South Korea (NBC)

[corbe]

U.S. to end large-scale military drills with South Korea

The move is part of the Trump administration's effort to ease tensions with North Korea, U.S. officials said.

March 1, 2019, 11:30 AM CST

By Courtney Kube, Dan De Luce and Stella Kim

The U.S. military is preparing to announce that annual large-scale joint exercises conducted with South Korea every spring will no longer be held, according to two U.S. defense officials.

The major U.S.-South Korea exercises are being curtailed as part of the Trump administration's effort to ease tensions with North Korea, the officials said. The exercises — known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle — will be replaced with smaller, mission-specific training, according to the officials.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has repeatedly complained about the large-scale exercises, saying they're too costly and the U.S. bears too much of the financial burden.

The military has carried out the major exercises as much for deterring the North Korean regime as maintaining troop readiness, according to senior defense officials.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/u-s-end-large-scale-military-drills-south-korea-n978111

[edpc]

With less than 30K personnel there, large scale exercises are necessary to simulate and evaluate what support would be needed in the case of full-scale conflict. You can believe this scale down is part of the reason Mattis resigned.