Arya News - Adjusting U.S.-South Korea joint military drills could be considered under certain conditions, South Korea`s Unification Ministry said Monday.
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Adjusting U.S.-South Korea joint military drills could be considered under certain conditions, South Korea"s Unification Ministry said Monday, as the administration of President Lee Jae Myung seeks ways to reopen dialogue with North Korea.
"I believe these issues can be discussed in the future, as conditions and circumstances allow," ministry spokesman Yoon Min-ho said at a press briefing when asked about scaling back the allies" exercises, an idea that has been floated as a potential bargaining chip to restart talks with Pyongyang.
President Lee said last week that Seoul was prepared to help Washington create "strategic leverage" for new negotiations, including the possibility of downsizing joint drills, which North Korea routinely denounces as rehearsals for invasion.
"We will do our best to create objective conditions so that we can communicate and cooperate at any time," Lee said during a press conference with foreign media. "The issue of the joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises is one of them."
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young has also argued that reducing the drills could become "inevitable" if Washington and Pyongyang are to hold a summit in the first half of next year.
Scaling down joint drills has been discussed by Seoul as a possible negotiating tool to restart dialogue with North Korea. In this file photo, South Korean troops watch a combined U.S.-South Korea live-fire exercise in Pocheon in February. File Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
Seoul and Washington have taken similar steps before, scaling back or suspending major drills during a period of detente with the North in 2018-19 and shifting large field maneuvers to command-post exercises.
The current administration has sent mixed signals, however, as national security adviser Wi Sung-lac said Sunday that the option was not currently under active review.
"While there are many possible options, we are not directly considering using the Korea-U.S. joint exercises as a card," Wi said at a press briefing.
Yoon declined to respond directly to Wi"s comments Monday, but highlighted the broader geopolitical significance of the drills. "South Korea-U.S. joint exercises have important implications not only in military terms, but also in inter-Korean relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula," he said.
Seoul has rolled out several conciliatory steps since Lee took office in June, including dismantling border loudspeakers and tightening restrictions on activist balloon launches in an effort to lower tensions. North Korea has so far dismissed the overtures, continuing to advance its nuclear and missile programs while deepening military cooperation with Russia.