ROK, US agree to maintain peace as long as talks with DPRK last

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Defense chiefs of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States agreed on Thursday to continue peace measures as long as talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) last, Seoul's defense ministry said.

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis visited ROK to hold talks with his ROK counterpart Song Young-moo at the Seoul defense ministry's headquarters.

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis (L) is greeted by ROK's Defence Minister Song Young-moo (2nd L) upon his arrival at the Defence Ministry in Seoul on June 28, 2018. /VCG Photo

Under the joint statement released after the talks, the two sides agreed to keep considering measures to build mutual trust and peace on the Korean Peninsula as long as a goodwill dialogue with the DPRK lasts.

They discussed the recent measures taken to ease military tensions and build trust, including the suspension of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) joint annual military exercises between Seoul and Washington originally scheduled for August.

ROK and US halted the summertime war games after top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump held the first-ever DPRK-US summit in Singapore on June 12.

US President Donald Trump talks with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un at the Capella Hotel, June 12, 2018. /Reuters Photo

The UFG is a computer-simulated command post exercise, which the DPRK had denounced as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion.

Mattis and Song agreed to announce the scale, schedule and contents of future ROK-US joint military drills through consultations between the two sides.

They confirmed that UN Security Council sanctions on Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs should be implemented until the DPRK takes concrete and irreversible measures for denuclearization.

After the Singapore summit, Kim and Trump agreed to complete denuclearization of the peninsula in exchange for security guarantees for the DPRK.

US President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un sign a joint document after their summit at the Capella Hotel in Singapore, June 12, 2018. /Reuters Photo

Amid rising detente on the peninsula, Song and Mattis agreed to strengthen cooperation to meet conditions for the United States to return back its wartime operational control of ROK troops early while considering the security situations change on the peninsula sufficiently.

ROK's wartime command was handed over to the US forces after the 1950-53 Korean War broke out. The country won back its peacetime operational control in 1994.

Seoul and Washington had agreed to the conditions-based transfer of wartime operational control of ROK troops from Washington to Seoul when ROK's military is capable of leading the combined defense on the peninsula.

US President Donald Trump meets with ROK President Moon Jae-In in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, May 22, 2018, in Washington, US. /AP Photo

The two defense chiefs paid attention to a significant advance in preparing for the transfer of wartime operational control, according to the joint statement.

They assessed that the ROK-US alliance is more ironclad than ever, agreeing to closely cooperate to develop the alliance into a future-oriented, mutually-complementary one.

Before the talks with Song, Mattis said in his introductory remarks that the US would maintain its troops on the peninsula as part of efforts to help defend the ROK.

About 28,500 US troops have been stationed here in ROK, a legacy from the Korean War that ended with an armistice, not peace treaty.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency