New Military Exercise

[Anchor Lead]

South Korea and the U.S. will conduct a new "alliance" drill until March 12th, following their decision to end their springtime Key Resolve exercise. Military authorities said that there are no problems in achieving security goals, even though the new drill is smaller in scale and shorter in period, compared to previous exercises.

[Pkg]

South Korea and the United States will hold its new command post drill dubbed "Alliance" until March 12th. It replaces the larger-scale Key Resolve exercise. From South Korea, the Defense Ministry, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the operations commands of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force as well as a joint unit under the direct control of the Defense Ministry will participate in the drill. The U.S. will dispatch troops from the Combined Forces Command, U.S. Armed Forces in Korea and the Pacific Command. Specifically named the '19-1 Alliance' drill, which refers to this year's first joint drill between South Korea and the U.S., the exercise is about half as long as the Key Resolve with a smaller number of participating forces. The drill scenario has also been revised. Previous exercises consisted of two stages: the first stage focused on defense, while the second one centered on counter-offense. However, the second stage has been removed this time. Instead, tactical discussions will be held during the exercise. A military official explained that the drill is a computer-based simulation exercise focused on defense crisis management. Regarding political concerns that the end of Key Resolve and other drills with the U.S. could possibly weaken national security, military authorities said that there will be no problems with joint defense readiness.

[Soundbite] Choi Hyun-soo(Ministry of National Defense Spokesperson) : "There is nothing wrong with exercises and drills. So there are no problems in achieving practical goals."

North Korea, which has been calling for the suspension of South Korea-U.S. military drills, has not yet given a response to the two allies' new exercise plan.