Military Exercise Starts Wednesday

South Korea and the United States will kick off a 10-day military exercise on Wednesday － titled "Foal Eagle" － the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command announced on Tuesday.

Officials said some 4,500 U.S. soldiers will fly in from abroad to join in the operation with South Korean troops. Most of the 37,000 U.S. soldiers permanently based in South Korea will also participate in the annual event.

The exercise includes river-crossing drills and landing exercises.

The drill, which was first staged by the combined forces in 1961, is designed to check defense plans in case of an invasion by forces from North Korea. "Foal Eagle," is one of the three largest North Korean-U.S. exercises.

The event will begin as U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright flies in from her historic visit to Pyongyang to brief her South Korean and Japanese counterparts on her encounter with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il.

Since relations between the United States and North Korea have been improving slowly, officials in Seoul said that this year's joint exercises will be held in a "low-key" context. This was regarded by analysts as a move not to provoke the North.

In a break with traditional policy, North Korea did not issue much anti-U.S. rhetoric against the annual military event.