SEOUL, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- South Korea will conduct its scheduled joint military drill with the United States, the first since North Korea's regime change, officials said.
The 2-week-long annual exercise is set to start Feb. 27, the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo said, quoting foreign affairs security officials, the Los Angeles Times reported.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died in December. His youngest son, Kim Jong Un, about whom little is known, took over and is reported to be trying to consolidate his leadership.
The Times said North Korea has, in the past, termed such military exercises provocative.
"We have weighed whether we should go ahead with the exercise or not after North Korean leader Kim's death at the end of last year," an official told the South Korean newspaper, the Times reported. "The North's wintertime drills are continuing and the military threats still persist, so we've decided to go ahead with our military exercise as scheduled."
While it is not clear how the new North Korean regime will respond to the drills, the Times said U.S. and South Korean officials are aware North Korea has maintained a "military-first" policy of the previous regime. Officials said the policy had led to provocative actions, such as the shelling of a South Korean island in November 2010.
