Yonhap news on January 18th, South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a New Year’s press conference on the 18th and said that if necessary, he could discuss the issue of joint Korean-American military exercises with North Korea at the Inter-Korean Military Joint Committee.
When asked by reporters on the same day whether he could accept the request of the North Korean side to stop the joint exercise to a certain extent, Moon Jae-in replied that the inter-Korean has reached an agreement to discuss the Korean-American joint exercise through the mechanism of the Inter-Korean Joint Military Commission.
If necessary, the South Korean side can discuss the joint performance with the North Korean side at the Joint Committee.
The South Korean military commented that Moon Jae-in’s above reply was a re-emphasis on Article 1, paragraph 1, of the September 19 Military Agreement between South Korea.
Moon Jae-in also said in a joint written interview with Yonhap and the world’s six major news agencies in June 2019 that if the military agreement between the inter-Korean is effectively implemented, military transparency can be improved through the exchange of military intelligence or mutual visits to each other through the military joint committee in the future.
Moon Jae-in stressed again that the South Korean-American joint exercise is an annual routine defensive exercise.
