By Lee Haye-ah
WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- The United States will hold joint military exercises with South Korea next week regardless of North Korea's opposition to them, the State Department said Wednesday.
Heather Nauert, a department spokeswoman, reaffirmed that the computer-based drills will kick off in South Korea Monday despite recent tensions over the North's nuclear and missile programs.
"We will continue to conduct joint military exercises," she told foreign reporters during a briefing, noting that such drills are conducted routinely with many allies around the world.
She went further to reject calls for a so-called "double freeze," or the suspension of the exercises in exchange for a stop to North Korea's provocations. That idea was recently floated by China and Russia.
Nauert declined to comment on whether the exercises could be scaled back, saying it's a question for the Pentagon.
In response to a similar question earlier this week, Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning declined to get into specific exercise scenarios.
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