{"id":34573,"date":"2018-04-24T21:17:34","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T21:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/04\/24\/ahead-of-summits-us-tones-down-war-games-with-south-korea\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:18:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:18:59","slug":"ahead-of-summits-us-tones-down-war-games-with-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/04\/24\/ahead-of-summits-us-tones-down-war-games-with-south-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"Ahead of summits, US tones down war games with South Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 Spring on the Korean Peninsula is normally the season of D-Day-style beach landings with big guns thumping in the distance and skies crisscrossed by the contrails of fighter aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as the North and South prepare for their first summit in more than a decade this Friday, there is something different in the air: the hope of detente. Or at least of a much-needed respite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Korea has for decades been the site of the world\u2019s largest annual military maneuvers<\/a> between the U.S. and its ally South Korea. This year, the exercises have been postponed, scaled back, probably shortened and certainly toned down. They have not, however, been canceled. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHAT THE EXERCISES ARE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s exercises began on April 1 and are expected to continue through the end of the month, possibly longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normally they begin in March or earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At their height in the late 1980s, 200,000 troops participated in Team Spirit, making them the largest annual maneuvers in the world. The head count for Foal Eagle\/Key Resolve, as the exercises are known today, is lower, but the military assets and the kind of training involved are fine-tuned for the outbreak of a new Korean war and the possible scenario of a takedown of the Kim Jong Un regime itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\t