Washington (CNN) The United States and South Korea are considering scaling back upcoming joint military exercises due to the coronavirus outbreak in the Korean Peninsula, according to US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.

Esper said the US commander of US forces in Korea, Gen. Robert Abrams, and South Korea's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Park Han-ki, "are looking at scaling back the command post training due to concerns about the coronavirus."

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon alongside his South Korean counterpart, Minister of Defense Kyeong-doo Jeong, Esper said he is confident the US and South Korea will "remain fully ready to deal with any threats that we might face together."

The South Korean defense minister, speaking through a translator, said that "due to the coronavirus in Korea, the situation is quite serious," saying that the US-South Korean military leadership "will make the right decision through close coordination" with regard to the command post exercise.

He said that there were 13 confirmed cases of coranavirus among South Korean military personnel.

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