Pentagon: US, ROK seek to fulfill Trump's 'guidance' on war games

World
Europe

The US and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have agreed to work together to fulfill US President Donald Trump's "guidance" on the joint military exercises, said Pentagon on Thursday.

Trump, after a historic meeting with Kim Jong Un, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday, told reporters that he will halt the annual US war games with ROK as Washington was in talks with Pyongyang which has constantly denounced the drills.

Pentagon said in a statement that US Secretary of Defense James Mattis spoke over phone with his ROK counterpart Song Young-moo on Thursday, discussing the results of the US-DPRK summit.

A US Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber (L), two US F-35A and two US F-35B stealth jets (far) flying over ROK with ROK's two F-16 (R) and two F-15K (L top) fighter jets during a joint military drill, December 6, 2017. /VCG Photo

Mattis and Song also "discussed their mutual support to ongoing diplomatic efforts, to include how we are working together to fulfill the President's guidance on US-ROK combined military exercises," the statement added.

In an almost one-hour press conference on Tuesday, Trump said the joint military exercises, usually conducted each spring and summer in ROK, will be stopped "unless and until we see the future negotiation (between the US and the DPRK) is not going along like it should."

Trump also called the drills "very expensive" and "provocative."

Peace activists in the ROK hold placards reading "Stop! Max Thunder," during a rally denouncing ROK-US joint military drills, in front of the US embassy in Seoul, May 16, 2018. /VCG Photo

Harry Harris, a retired Navy admiral whom Trump has picked as the next US ambassador to the ROK, endorsed Trump's decision to halt the joint military exercises.

"We should give major exercises a pause to see if Kim Jong Un is serious about his part of the negotiations," Harris told a Senate hearing to consider his nomination on Thursday.

ROK President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday that he will carefully review the joint military exercises if talks between the DPRK and the US continue.

(Cover image: ROK Marines take part in a military exercise in Pohang, ROK, April 5, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency