U.S.-South Korea combined exercises are kicking off this week after some deliberation on the scale of the training by Seoul, based on the impact on potential inter-Korean engagement. 

While the allies eventually approved of most of the planned exercises, the debate will continue to play out in Seoul, as the South Korean government pushes for the resumption of dialogue with the North.

But politics belies some of the fundamental truths about military exercises on the Korean Peninsula: These exercises are professional necessities that have been tacitly adapted to by North Korea, and South