Report: U.S., South Korea to reveal details for military exercises

Feb. 5 (UPI) -- The United States and South Korea are expected to disclose details on joint military exercises for 2019 -- including plans to conduct Key Resolve for two weeks in March, according to a South Korean television network.

Quoting a South Korean military source, YTN reported Tuesday the two sides may have decided to conduct Key Resolve, an annual command post exercise involving computer simulation, starting March 4.

Key Resolve has been combined with the annual combined field training exercise Foal Eagle since 2001, but the Foal Eagle drill may be renamed, according to the report. The North has previously condemned Key Resolve as preparation for a U.S. and South Korean invasion.

Updates on the drills are to be publicly disclosed after the conclusion of working-level U.S.-North Korea talks, which are expected to take place in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

The spring exercises are to also take place on a "reduced scale," the South Korean report states. Foal Eagle is one of the largest military exercises conducted annually in the world.

The joint drill decision is being reported at a time Seoul and Washington may have agreed to military cost-sharing after months of negotiations, and as Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, is expected to begin negotiations in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

Biegun could discuss the details of the second summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

JTBC reported Tuesday the summit could take place on either Feb. 25 or 26 in Danang, Vietnam, the week Trump could meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the country.