South Korea and the United States have agreed to suspend a military exercise that was scheduled for December.
Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis held talks in Singapore on Friday and agreed to delay the annual joint air exercise Vigilant Ace.
Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement Friday that the two sides reached this decision to give the diplomatic process on the North Korea nuclear issue “every opportunity to continue.”
She said that both ministers are committed to modifying training exercises to ensure the readiness of their forces, and that they pledged to maintain close coordination and evaluate future exercises.
Vigilant Ace is the latest joint exercise to be suspended in efforts to encourage dialogue and diplomacy aimed at North Korea’s denuclearization.
The Ulchi Freedom Guardian drill and the Korean Marine Exchange Program training exercises were cancelled since the U.S.-North Korea summit in June in Singapore, where President Trump said he would halt “provocative” and costly “war games.”