Trump: No war games with ROK for now

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01:34

US President Donald Trump believes he has a good relationship with leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un and now there's no reason to spend huge sums of money on military drills with South Korea, the White House revealed on Wednesday.

The statement comes a day after the US defense secretary hinted that the drills could resume.

The White House, in a statement sent on Twitter by Trump, said: "The president believes that his relationship with Kim Jong Un is a very good and warm one, and there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint US-South Korea war games."

US President Donald Trump (L) and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un walk together during their summit at the Capella Hotel on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore, June 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

However, the statement added: "Besides, the president can instantly start the joint exercises again with South Korea, and Japan, if he so chooses. If he does, they will be far bigger than ever before."

The statement came after US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, amid a breakdown in diplomacy with the DPRK over its nuclear weapons program, that the US military has no plans yet to suspend any more major military exercises with South Korea.

Mattis said no decisions have been made about major exercises for next year, but noted that the suspension of drills this summer as a good-faith gesture was not open-ended.

Trump caught many American military planners off guard when he announced after his June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un that the United States was suspending summer drills with South Korea.

South Korean activists hold placards showing images of the Trump-Kim summit (L) and a South Korea-US joint military drill (R) during a rally to demand a halt to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), a joint computer-simulated military exercise, near the US embassy in Seoul, South Korea, June 15, 2018. /VCG Photo

At the June summit, the first meeting between a serving US president and a DPRK leader, Kim agreed in broad terms to work toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Trump last week called off a visit to the DPRK by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just hours after Pompeo had announced it and publicly acknowledged for the first time that his efforts to get Pyongyang to denuclearize had stalled.

(Cover: South Korean and US soldiers watch from an observation post during a joint live firing drill between South Korea and the US at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, 65 kms northeast of Seoul, South Korea, April 26, 2017. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters