This handout taken and released by the Republic of Korea’s Defense Ministry on Dec 6, 2017 shows a US Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber, left, two US F-35A and two US F-35B stealth jets, far, flying over the ROK with two ROK F-16, right, and two F-15K, left top, fighter jets during a joint military drill. (HANDOUT / ROK DEFENSE MINISTRY / AFP)

SEOUL – The Republic of Korea and the United States will start their annual joint military drills on Tuesday, in what local media said was a two-day delay after an ROK officer tested positive for the new coronavirus. 

The drills will start on Tuesday, “considering the COVID-19 situation,” ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday. 

READ MORE: Media: ROK, US to hold smaller military drills due to coronavirus 

The training, which had been scheduled to begin on Sunday, was pushed back after the positive test on Friday of the Army officer, who was to have taken part, Yonhap News Agency said. 

This year’s exercises will be scaled down, not mobilizing US-based troops amid COVID-19 restrictions on the travel of US personnel to the ROK 

The combined drills are closely monitored by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which calls them a “rehearsal for war.” They have been reduced in recent years to facilitate US negotiations aimed at dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programs. 

This year’s exercises will be scaled down, not mobilizing US-based troops amid COVID-19 restrictions on the travel of US personnel to the ROK. 

This year’s program, running to Aug 28, will focus on a “combined defense posture,” while exercises for the transition of wartime operational control on the Korean peninsula will be “partly conducted,” the joint chiefs said in a statement. 

This could delay President Moon Jae-in’s plan to take over wartime operational control from the United States before his term ends in 2022, experts say. 

ALSO READ: ROK, US 'should put off drills' to draw DPRK back into talks

The ROK and the US had cancelled their springtime drills due to the pandemic.