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Troops from the Armed Force CBR Defense Command take part in the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian joint military exercise with the US on Aug. 21, 2017, at Incheon International Airport. (Kim Seong-gwang, staff photographer)
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Foreign Ministry spokesperson hints at cancellation of exercise leading to working-level talks
A spokesperson for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said on July 16 that, if South Korea and the US’ “19-2 Dong Maeng” joint military exercise goes ahead, it could have an impact on North Korea and the US’ working-level talks. “After working-level talks between North Korea and the US were scheduled during the meeting between our leaders at Panmunjom [on June 30], the US is attempting to hold the 19-2 Dong Maeng joint military exercise with South Korea in violation of an agreement reached during talks of the highest level,” the spokesperson said during an interview with a reporter from North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). “We will make a decision regarding working-level talks with the United States while watching US moves going forward,” the spokesperson went on to say. While the spokesperson’s rhetoric appeared to link the North Korea-US working-level talks to the cancellation of the 19-2 Dong Maeng exercises, the spokesperson studiously avoided saying explicitly that the North would boycott the talks if the exercises aren’t canceled. Though US President Donald Trump said that the two countries’ working-level talks would take place within three weeks of the Panmunjom summit, it seems that they may be delayed. On June 28, the KCNA published a column describing the exercise as being “a de facto rehearsal of war designed to light the fuse on an invasion of the North” and called for “a complete halt to joint military exercises between South Korea and the US.” An official from South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense responded by saying that “the ROK-US command post exercise in August will proceed as planned,” referring to the exercise that North Korea called “19-2 Dong Maeng.” Command post exercises are war games that are conducted through computer simulations, distinguishing them from field exercises, which involve the actual movement of troops and equipment. “Delaying or cancelling the exercise would interrupt the schedule for the wartime OPCON handover,” the official added. South Korea and the US are currently moving toward transferring wartime operational control, called OPCON, of South Korean forces to South Korean commanders. Following the North Korea-US summit in Singapore in June 2018, South Korea and the US discontinued the Key Resolve exercise, which had generally been carried out in March and April, replacing it with a command post exercise called Dong Maeng (frequently called “19-1 Dong Maeng,” though that’s not their official name). The Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercises, typically held in August, were also canceled and divided into a ROK-US command post exercise and the Ulchi Taegeuk exercise, which is intended to strengthen the state’s crisis management capability and establish its wartime emergency readiness. The 19-2 Dong Maeng exercise mentioned by North Korea refers to this ROK-US command post exercise. South Korea’s military intends the exercise to double as an assessment of its military’s initial operational capability (IOC), the first phase of the review necessary for the OPCON handover. By Lee Je-hun and Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writers Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
