South Korea’s Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and US Defence Secretary Mark Esper. Photo: AP
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https://scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3038097/us-and-south-korea-postpone-joint-warplane-exercise-seen-north East Asia
US and South Korea postpone joint warplane exercise seen by North Korea as an ‘invasion rehearsal’
- The drills would have simulated air combat scenarios and involved warplanes from both the United States and South Korea
- Washington denied the postponement amounted to another concession to Pyongyang
The joint military air exercise, called Vigilant Ace, has been postponed. Photo: AP
The United States and South Korea on Sunday said they were postponing a joint military air exercise that North Korea has criticised as provocative.
US Defence Secretary Mark Esper and his South Korean counterpart made the announcement in Bangkok, where they were attending an Asia defence ministers’ conference.
Esper told reporters he did not consider the postponement a concession to North Korea. “We have made this decision as an act of goodwill to contribute to an environment conducive to diplomacy and the advancement of peace,” Esper said.
The move comes even as Japan’s defence minister, whose country feels threatened by repeated North Korean missile launches, told Esper “no one could be optimistic about” changing the North’s behaviour.
The statement by Japan’s defence chief, Taro Kono, was a stark illustration of the difficulties facing the US and its international allies and partners as they struggle to get North Korea back to negotiations to eliminate its nuclear weapons and missiles. Talks launched by US President Donald Trump in 2018 have stalled with no resumption in sight.
As recently as Friday, when Esper was in Seoul to consult South Korean officials, there was no word on postponing the military air exercise, which had been called Vigilant Ace.
Seoul and Washington had scaled back the exercise recently and changed the name, but North Korea strongly objected, calling it evidence of a lack of interest in improving relations.
The drills were meant to begin in the coming days.
The North has demanded accommodations before it will agree to resume nuclear negotiations.
Earlier this month, a senior North Korean diplomat blamed the US joint aerial drill for “throwing cold water” over talks with Washington. Pyongyang regularly opposes such US-South Korean joint military exercises, viewing them as a rehearsal for invasion.
South Korean Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said the exercise had been put off pending further consultations between Seoul and Washington. No new date has been set.
“I see this as a good-faith effort by the United States and the Republic of Korea to enable peace … to facilitate a political agreement, a deal if you will, that leads to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” Esper said.
He said Seoul and Washington encourage North Korea “to demonstrate the same goodwill” as it considers decisions on its own military training, exercises and testing.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un poses with pilots at an airfield in North Korea. Photo: AP
He also urged the North to return to the negotiating table “without precondition or hesitation”.
Esper said that even without the planned exercise of South Korean and American air forces, both militaries “will remain at a high state of readiness” for potential combat. The US has about 28,000 troops in South Korea.
The announcement came after North Korea on Saturday said leader Kim Jong-un attended a flight demonstration of military aircraft at an airfield on the country’s eastern coast where he instructed combat pilots to acquire “great idea and tactics” against enemies “armed to the teeth”.
Kim has issued an end-of-year deadline for the Trump administration to offer mutually acceptable terms for a deal to salvage the diplomacy while saying that the North would seek a “new path” if the United States persists with sanctions and pressure.
The North has been ramping up its missile tests and other military demonstrations in recent months in an apparent attempt to pressure Washington.
KCNA said Kim expressed satisfaction over the performance of his combat pilots who displayed the “invincible might” of his flying corps. The agency didn’t mention any direct comments by Kim toward Washington or Seoul.
Kim said his pilots should be prepared to “fight the enemies armed to the teeth with great idea and tactics under any circumstances,” the agency said.
“He stressed that however loudly the enemies may brag about their technological advantages, they can never overwhelm the politico-ideological and combat and moral advantages of our service personnel,” the agency said.
The report didn’t provide much details on the aircraft deployed for the air show at Wonsan Kalma Airport. It said Kim’s official plane, the “Chammae-1”, named after the goshawk, the North’s national bird, flew over the airfield escorted by other military planes.
A report last week from 38 North, a website specialising in North Korea studies, said commercial satellite images showed tens of military aircraft parked along the airport’s taxiways and parking aprons, including MiG-15, MiG-17 and MiG-29 fighters, II-28 bombers and Su-25 close support aircraft.
Additional reporting by Reuters