The annual ROK-US joint military exercise has been postponed until after the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games and the Paralympics are over on March 18, 2018. According to military affairs experts in Korea, at the latest, the joint ROK-US military drill should be announced before the end of March.
Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo testified at a National Assembly National Defense Committee hearing on Feb. 20 that the competent authorities of the two countries will make an announcement before April concerning the joint ROK-US military exercise.
However, the general public is not sure if the joint military exercise will surely take place because there has not been a clear, final announcement that it will take place.
The Korean government of President Moon Jae-in appears to be in a dilemma as far as the joint ROK-US military exercise is concerned.
The main cause of the ROK-US military exercise is the threat from the North Korean regime which now has nuclear bombs and means of their delivery as far out as the mainland of the United States.
The main reason of the joint military exercise is to deter another military conflict such as the Korean War and secure peace in and around Korea and other parts on this side of the hemisphere of the globe.
It may sound a bit out of the way idea, but some Koreans feel that there could be a solution to the present stalemate of the Korean peninsula issue.
The main and biggest problem is the nuclear weapons and missiles of North Korea.
In order to develop them and keep them, the North Korean regime has used a lot of money and resources—with the result that the North Korean GNP today is one fortieth of that of South Korea. Reports indicate that with the sole exception of Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea, the actual plight of the livelihood of the majority of people is miserable. They point out that Google maps showing the Korean peninsula at night show complete blackout in the northern half of the Korean peninsula, while South Korea is bright as day.
These experts recommend that the ROK government ‘buy up’ all the nuclear weapons and missiles of North Korea at a ‘market price’ applied in the world today and place them under the joint control and supervision of the ROK and the super powers such as the United States, the Russian Federation, China and Japan. They say that the ROK has enough money to do so and it is especially so when the astronomical national security/defense expenditure is taken into consideration.