S.Korea, U.S. Drills to Start Despite North’s Warning: Yonhap

(Bloomberg) -- South Korea and the U.S. will start joint military drills on Monday, Yonhap News reports, as tensions escalate in the Korean Peninsula after North Korea tested missiles twice in a week.

The two allies will stage drills with a computer-simulated command post exercise for about two weeks, and spend another 10 days verifying South Korea’s ability to retake wartime operational control of its troops from the U.S., Yonhap reported, citing an unidentified South Korean military authority.

Last month, North Korea’s state media KCNA warned that the joint military exercise could jeopardize new talks, saying that President Donald Trump had pledged to suspend such exercises in his last meeting with Kim Jong Un. The U.S. and North Korea have yet to restart nuclear negotiations after the two leaders agreed to do so at a historic June 30 meeting at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

Seoul and Washington will step up surveillance of potential launches from Pyongyang during the joint drills, according to Yonhap, citing unidentified military sources.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sohee Kim in Seoul at skim847@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Magdalene Fung, Anand Basu

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