More than 11,500 service members, including thousands based outside of Korea, plan to participate in the four-week Foal Eagle training, along with around 300,000 South Korean soldiers.

The allies often kick off their largest annual military exercise in late February or early March for a two-month run. This year, however, they waited until the end of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Foal Eagle field exercise, which usually involves combined ground, air, naval and special operations troops, will continue for a month. The computer-simulated Key Resolve is scheduled for two weeks starting in mid-April, added Yonhap. </s> (CNN) The United States and South Korea announced Saturday that annual large-scale exercises, which were a cornerstone and recent common feature of the defense relationship between the two militaries, will end and will be re-configured into smaller exercises that do not carry the same high profile as earlier versions known to have been a major irritant to North Korea

The large scale named military exercises, commonly known as Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, were scheduled for this spring. The joint exercises will be scaled back and done on a small unit level or even include virtual training similar to the 2018 scaled back exercises.

Defense officials have said they believe they can achieve the necessary training needs in this manner. The announcement follows a phone call Saturday between acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and South Korean Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo.

"Following close coordination, both sides decided to conclude the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises," a readout from the Defense Department of the phone call said. "The Minister and Secretary reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring the continued combined defense of U.S.-ROK (Republic of Korea) combined forces to meet any security challenge, and agreed to maintain firm military readiness through newly designed Command Post exercises and revised field training programs."

The US and South Korea will hold the military exercises from March 4 through March 12, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement Sunday.

Read More </s> The defense forces of South Korea and the United States on Sunday started their annual joint exercises, after having postponed them and reduced their duration this year due to the current rapprochement with North Korea, the Seoul defense ministry announced.

Around 11,500 US troops and some 300,000 South Korean soldiers are set to participate in the first of the two drills, Foal Eagle, which will continue for four weeks, one month less than its normal duration. </s> SEOUL, April 26 (UPI) -- South Korea and the United States have decided to suspend their annual combined military drills on the inter-Korean summit day, defense authorities here said Thursday.

The South Korean military will instead focus on providing "stable support" for the talks between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to be held at the border village of Panmunjom, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The allies kicked off the Key Resolve command-post training in Korea on Monday for a two-week run and agreed to finish the first part of the drill on Thursday.

"The South Korean and U.S. military authorities have decided to conduct the first part of the 2018 KR through Thursday, jointly concluding that the intended goals of the exercise have been attained," the JCS said.

They plan to continue the second part of this year's KR after the summit day break.

The two sides have also effectively wrapped up the Foal Eagle field training that began on April 1. At that time, the JCS announced it would last four weeks.

"Most of the programs in the Foal Eagle exercise will finish today," a military official said. "You can say that the training virtually comes to an end today."

The allies usually open the large-scale drills in late February or early March. This year they waited until the end of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

They are apparently playing low-key amid the peace mood in Korea, shortening the official training period and avoiding the deployment of such U.S. strategic assets as a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. </s> U.S., South Korea kick off annual joint military exercises after month-long delay

South Korea and the United States kicked off their annual joint military exercises on Sunday after they were delayed by about a month for the Winter Olympics and to help create conditions for a resumption of talks between North and South Korea, Reuters reported.

The Foal Eagle field exercise, which usually involves combined ground, air, naval and special operations troops, will continue for a month. The computer-simulated Key Resolve will be held for two weeks starting in mid-April.

A Pentagon spokesman said in March the two joint drills would involve about 23,700 U.S. troops and 300,000 South Korean forces. Military officials in Seoul have said the scale of the exercises would not go beyond those seen in previous years.

The Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises are usually held every year around March but they were postponed this year until after the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and Paralympics, which started in February and ended last month.

North Korea, which has traditionally accused both South Korea and the United States of practising invading the North during joint military drills, has remained quiet on the issue.
South Korea and the United States suspend their Foal Eagle millitary exercises. Furthermore, they also finish parts of the Key Resolve exercises.