US suspends military exercises with South Korea to help North Korea talks
Announcement comes while Defence Secretary James Mattis is in Singapore for a meeting of Asian defence ministers
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The US and South Korea have suspended planned joint military exercises to help diplomatic efforts with North Korea, the Pentagon has announced.
Pentagon spokeswoman, Dana White, said Washington and Seoul are suspending an air exercise known as Vigilant Ace “to give the diplomatic process every opportunity to continue.”
That announcement comes while Pentagon chief Defence Secretary James Mattis is in Singapore for a meeting of Asian defence ministers.
Vigilant Ace is one of several exercises that have been suspended to encourage dialogue aimed at getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. Vigilant Ace is an annual exercise last held in December 2017.
In June the Pentagon cancelled this year’s Freedom Guardian exercise after President Donald Trump abruptly announced that he disapproved of the manoeuvres during a historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un,
The president called them provocative and expensive. The exercises are one of the major issues that Pyongyang has consistently railed against – also labelling them provocative.
Ms White said Mr Mattis and his South Korean counterpart are “committed to modifying training exercises to ensure the readiness of our forces.”
“They pledged to maintain close coordination and evaluate future exercises,” she said.
On Friday Mr Mattis met jointly with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts and then met separately with Japanese officials.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments