Yoon agrees on importance of joint military exercises with U.S.: official

Defense 17:33 April 11, 2022

SEOUL, April 11 (Yonhap) -- President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol reportedly shared the importance of combined military exercises between the United States and South Korea when he visited a U.S. military base last week, a transition team official said Monday.

Yoon visited Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Thursday and reportedly talked about U.S.-South Korea military exercises, according to the official.

"Whether it is U.S.-South Korea combined exercise or a solo exercise, the two sides were on the same page in regard to the importance of having exercises," the official said.

Since 2018, the joint military exercise between the two nations has been taking the form of a computer-simulated command post exercise without field training.

Yoon's stance on the combined military exercise could be a precursor to the resumption of field exercises as well as conducting a tabletop exercise (TTX), the official said.

TTX is designed to strengthen the allies' tailored deterrence against the threats by North Korea but has not been regularly held between the two nations.

In his contributing article for the Foreign Affairs magazine in February, Yoon stressed that TTX, which was conducted on only two occasions during the Moon Jae-in administration, should be held regularly.

Yoon met with Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of U.S. Forces Korea and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), in his visit to Camp Humphreys last week.

Yoon's transition team then said the president-elect stated "his determination to further increase the solidarity of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and strengthen deterrence and the response posture against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats."