S. Korea, US kick off joint summertime exercise

SEOUL, Aug 18, 2020, Yonhap. South Korea and the United States on Tuesday kicked off their annual summertime combined exercise in a scaled-back manner amid the coronavirus pandemic, officials said, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The computer-simulated Combined Command Post Training (CCPT), which will run until Aug. 28, is the first major exercise between the two countries this year as their annual springtime exercise was called off due to COVID-19.

The first part of the exercise, which is to run until Saturday, will focus on how to defend the South against an invasion by North Korea, and the second part, set for Aug. 24-28, will be based on the scenario of launching a counterattack in response, according to the officials.

In the run-up to the exercise, the two sides held a four-day crisis management staff training last week.

The exercise was initially set to begin on Sunday but was pushed back after a South Korean Army officer who was supposed to take part in the exercise tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the officials.

“All the service members who had close contact with the officer tested negative for the virus,” a military officer said. “We’ve been implementing tougher quarantine and virus prevention schemes and increased monitoring by operating a separate task force. Currently, the exercise is under way without a hitch.”

In South Korea, new cases have soared in recent days, mostly in Seoul and the surrounding regions, to reach a five-month high.

The summertime training will be smaller in scale compared with previous ones, as American troops necessary for the program were not able to come to South Korea under coronavirus-related restrictions. The two sides also decided to skip nighttime training programs out of virus concerns, the officer noted.