The United States and South Korea began annual joint army drills on Sunday that this year will feature fewer large-scale weapons and be shortened in a reflection of recently easing tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the Foal Eagle training involved some 300,000 South Korean soldiers alongside more than 11,500 US troops. But the drills, which were delayed to avoid a clash with the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February, will be held for only a month instead of the usual almost two. Yonhap said the US aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines that have previously raised North Korea’s ire would also be missing this year, with both Seoul and Washington preparing for meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks. South Korean President Moon Jae-in is scheduled to meet Kim on April 27, and US President Donald Trump is expected to have his meeting before the end of May. Reconciliatory gestures The start of the Foal Eagle drills comes the same day as a historic concert by South Korean pop stars in Pyongyang, seen as a peace gesture ahead of the inter-Korea summit. The thaw in diplomatic ties comes partly as…