US & South Korea Discussing Conducting the Key Resolve Joint Military Exercise

As I have been saying watch and see if the Key Resolve exercise get scheduled to be executed this spring:

South Korea and the United States will likely suspend their joint field exercises next year amid the detente reached on the peninsula with North Korea.

Both sides are in discussions on whether to postpone their annual large-scale Foal Eagle combined tactical training exercise slated for March, but no official consensus has been reached yet.

“The military authorities may suspend major joint military exercises next year, including Foal Eagle, but nothing specific has been decided between the defense chiefs of the two countries,” a military official said Thursday without elaborating.

However, Seoul and Washing will carry out a series of computer-simulated command post exercises next year, as they do not pose a serious security threat to the North.

The two countries are known to be discussing conducting the Key Resolve computerized command post drill in March despite the possible suspension of its real time counterpart, Foal Eagle.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the fact that Key Resolve is being discussed could be a signal that the Trump administration doesn’t think the denuclearization and subsequent peace overtures are serious.  This also gives the Trump administration a bargaining chip if a second Trump-Kim summit is held.