North Korea Nuclear War Threat: US-South Korea Military Drills Postponed To April

Just a day after South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to postpone their countries' joint military drills amid the Winter Olympic Games set to take place in February, a source told Yonhap News Agency that the Key Resolve combined exercise will begin in April.

According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, South Korean and U.S. defense authorities reached a tentative deal "months ago" to hold the command-post, simulation-oriented training in South Korea from April 23-May 3.

"The deployment of participating troops will begin around April 18 under the current schedule," the source told Yonhap, adding that the dates for the Foal Eagle field training, which involves a large number of troops, including U.S. service members based abroad is yet to be confirmed.

In 2017, Key Resolve took place from March 13-24 and Foal Eagle from March 1-April 30.

On Thursday, the South Korean president spoke with Trump about delaying the military exercises despite growing threats from North Korea about a nuclear war in the Korean Peninsula.

"I believe it would greatly help ensure the success of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games if you could express an intention to delay joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises during the Olympics in case the North does not make any more provocations," Moon was quoted as telling Trump.

According to the South Korean presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, Trump agreed and asked North Korea to be informed of the fact that there will be no military exercises during the two-week Winter Olympics, which will kick off in the eastern town of PyeongChang in South Korea on Feb. 9. The Paralympic Winter Games are slated for March 9-18.

The U.S.-South Korea military drills are considered a security threat by North Korea, and the reclusive country also warned that Pyongyang will continue its nuclear advancements if the two allies did not end their exercises.

North Korea conducted several missile launches in 2017 despite international condemnation and tough sanctions from the United Nations. The supreme leader Kim Jong Un and the U.S. president also got involved in a war of words slamming each other.

The rhetoric war rolled into 2018 when in his annual New Year's Day address Kim said: "The entire mainland of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear weapons and the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office. They should accurately be aware that this is not a threat but a reality."

In response, Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday warning Kim about the United States’ superior nuclear capabilities.

"North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the 'Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.' Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

In an interview with PBS NewsHour on Thursday, Joe Biden, the former U.S. vice president, voiced his concerns about the intensifying rhetoric coming from Trump following his "much bigger" button comments on Twitter.

Biden told NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff that he was ultimately "worried" that Trump would make "fundamental miscalculations" — which could not only prove to be harmful for the U.S., but the entire world.

"This is not a business deal. This is not who builds the next skyscraper," Biden said. "This is a totally different dynamic. We know [Trump] inherited, as we did, an incredibly difficult problem in North Korea…But we also know that there is no answer in a nuclear exchange — which, God forbid, could happen if they attack the United States or our allies."

Biden also added: "We also know that the answer lies somewhere in cabining the capacity and inclination of the North working with China, Russia, South Korea and Japan. When we engage in activities like, 'Let’s compare the button,' they all for different reasons and different motivations, lose confidence in us. They wonder, do we know what the hell we’re doing? I’m worried they then decide they’re going to try separate ways to figure out how to do this."