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By Jeremy Kirk
Seoul Bureau chief

YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea - The largest annual South Korean-U.S. military exercise will receive less media hype this year because of warming relations between the two Koreas, U.S. Forces Korea officials said Thursday.

Foal Eagle is the largest of three joint exercises between the two countries. On the U.S. side, about 25,000 servicemembers from all branches will participate, with about 4,500 personnel coming from outside South Korea.

"We are trying to cooperate with the wishes of our host officials who have requested that we low-key the military operations during this time of reconciliation talks," said Col. Samuel T. Taylor III, USFK public affairs officer.

However, there will be no change in training or objectives, Taylor said.

USFK has denied requests from foreign reporters who want to cover the exercise, which begins Oct. 25 and runs through Nov. 3.

"We have chosen not to make it a major media event as we have in years past," Ferguson said. "We certainly support peace on the peninsula, and do not want to do anything to jeopardize that."

The move is in line with other recent decisions made by the United States and South Korea to play down the military standoff between the two Koreas, whose 1950-53 war ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

U.S. officials scrapped plans to re-enact the Korean War's Inchon landing on its 50th anniversary Sept. 15. The landing, brainstormed by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, turned the tide against North Korea.

South Korea dumped plans for a military parade on the 50th anniversary of the start of the war on June 25. The idea was to preserve cooperation after the historic June 13-15 summit between South Korea president Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

The U.N. Command attempted to notify North Korea at Panmunjom of Foal Eagle this year, as is the custom when exercises are conducted in South Korea. The North Koreans refused to accept the letter, a U.S. official said.

The exercise will include an amphibious landing at Pohang with U.S. and South Korean Marines, tank warfare training north of Seoul, and biological and chemical decontamination drills.

Last year, soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, participated in armor training, bringing M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles to the 2nd Infantry Division's area. This year, 4th ID soldiers will not be coming. In years past, large joint exercises have been canned or scaled back when North and South Korea have been cooperating.