Seoul, Jan 28 (IANS): South Korean Defence Minister Suh Wook has confirmed that the country will hold the annual springtime combined military drills with the US as planned, the media reported on Thursday.

"We will conduct a combined exercise in the first half of this year as a computer-simulated command post exercise (CPX) without outdoor drills. It is a regular program and for defence purposes," Yonhap News Agency quoted Suh as saying while addressing the media here.

"Taking the Covid-19 situation and other related factors into account, we are closely discussing how to conduct it in detail with the US side," he added.

The two countries usually hold major combined military exercises twice a year, along with smaller-scale ones throughout the year, and the springtime one is supposed to be held around March.

Since 2018, South Korea and the US have either cancelled or scaled back joint drills to back diplomacy with North Korea.

Last year, they "indefinitely postponed" the springtime program due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the summertime exercise was held in a scaled-back manner in August.