Foal Eagle

An ROK Army K1 tank disembarks from a U.S. Navy Landing Craft Air Cushion during RSOI/Foal Eagle 2004

Foal Eagle (Korean: 독수리 연습) is a combined field training exercise (FTX) conducted annually by the Republic of Korea Armed Forces and the United States Armed Forces under the auspices of the Combined Forces Command. It is one of the largest military exercises conducted annually in the world. Foal Eagle has been a source of friction with the government of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and domestic ROK critics.

Foal Eagle is an exercise conducted by the US and ROK armed forces, consisting of rear area security and stability operations, onward movement of critical assets to the forward area, special operations, ground maneuver, amphibious operations, combat air operations, maritime action group operations and counter special operations forces exercises (CSOFEX).[1][2]

The United Nations Command informs the North Korean People's Army that South Korea and the United States will be conducting the exercise. The United Nations Command also reassured the Korean People's Army at general officer-level talks that these exercises, conducted annually in or around March, are purely defensive in nature[citation needed] and have no connection to ongoing or current events. The Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission monitors the exercise for violations of the Korean Armistice Agreement.[3]

Since 2001, Foal Eagle combined with the annual American-South Korean Reception, Staging, Onward movement, and Integration (RSOI) combined exercises, with RSOI being renamed Key Resolve in 2008.[3][4] On June 12, 2018, US President Donald Trump announced that the US would suspend the joint military exercises with South Korea.[5] However, the joint military exercises resumed again on November 5, 2018, though at a small scale.[6][7][8][9]

  1. ^ "Foal Eagle". Military - Operations. GlobalSecurity.org. November 23, 2007. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
  2. ^ "Exercise FOAL EAGLE". Fact Sheet. U.S. Seventh Air Force. 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-03-05. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
  3. ^ a b "'Key Resolve' begins in Korea". U.S. Forces Korea. U.S. Army. March 10, 2009. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
  4. ^ "Reception, Staging, Onward movement, and Integration". Military - Operations. GlobalSecurity.org. October 23, 2007. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
  5. ^ "'Another blow to allies': Trump to stop 'war games'". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference november5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference nov5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "US, South Korea hold small-scale drills before N Korea talks". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  9. ^ "US, South Korea marines hold small-scale exercise ahead of North Korea talks". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2019.