US, South Korea to Resume Military Exercises Ahead of Nuke Summit with North Korea

Defense Secretary James Mattis and South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo have agreed to resume their annual combined military exercises, including Operations Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, which were deconflicted with the schedule of the Olympic Games.

The drills are expected to be "at a scale similar to that of the previous years," the Pentagon added.

The exercises are slated to resume April 1, Pentagon officials said in a statement.

"Foal Eagle" is a field exercise that involves about 11,500 US troops and 290,000 South Korean troops.

"Key Resolve" is a computer-simulated desktop exercise involving approximately 12,200 US and 10,000 South Korean military personnel.

The United Nations Command has notified North Korea's army of the schedule as well as the defensive nature of the annual exercises, officials said.

The US and South Korea postponed the drills in the lead-up to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in February.

Since then, the North has agreed to engage in talks with both South Korea and the US. If the meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un really does happen, it will be the first between a sitting US president and a leader of North Korea.