SEOUL – South Korea and the United States are likely to announce the suspension of the large-scale combined military drill this week amid talks with North Korea, international media reported.
An official source told a South Korean news agency that the suspension was likely to affect only major joint exercises such as such as the springtime Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises, and the summertime Ulchi Freedom Guardian, while routine military drills would continue.
A snapback clause is likely to be included in the historic announcement that the allied forces would resume the massive military exercise if North Korea failed to fulfil its commitment to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
The expected development would come after the unprecedented meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Kora leader Kim Un Jong in Singapore.
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After the historic summit on Tuesday, Trump said that the United States will stop holding joint military exercises on the Korean peninsula, making a major concession to North Korea.
“We will be stopping the war games which will save us a tremendous amount of money. I think it’s very provocative,” he said.
“The South Korean and U.S. military authorities have been having close consultations over the combined exercises that U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will stop,” a source told Yonhap News on condition of anonymity.
“This week, the South Korean and U.S. defense ministries will jointly announce the results of their discussions,” the source added.
Amid dialogue with the North in 1992, Seoul and Washington canceled their “Team Spirit” exercise, which resumed the following year when the tension escalated after the North conducted missile tests.
At Singapore summit, Kim Un Jong reaffirmed his commitment to the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula in a joint statement with Trump.
Historic Singapore Summit
In an unprecedented development, Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met at a landmark summit in Singapore after a year of war threats.
The two leaders shook hands at a luxury hotel on Singapore’s Sentosa island before heading to talks. Posing for photos while shaking hands with Kim, US President said, “we will have a terrific relationship no doubt”.
Kim said “the way to come here was not easy. The old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles on our way forward, but we overcame all of them and we are here today.”
The pair also signed an agreement in which, according to international media, North Korea has reaffirmed its commitment to the denuclearization of Korean Peninsula.
The document promises “new… relations” between Washington and Pyongyang while it makes no mention of US demands for “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation”.
Earlier, Trump and Kim held a one-on-one meeting, which lasted about 48 minutes, as both top guns emerged from the meeting room, Trump expressed that the talks were “very, very good” and that he and Kim have an “excellent relationship”.
From Threats to Handshake
The meeting would have been unthinkable last year when tensions escalated between the two countries after North Korea came into action to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of targetting the United States.
Trump had vowed to prevent that happening and threatened North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen”. He mocked Kim as “little rocket man” on a suicide mission.
Kim denounced the US president as the “mentally deranged US dotard” who would be “tamed … with fire”.
