The US military and South Korea are planning to "discontinue" annual large-scale military exercises as President Donald Trump pursues efforts to improve ties with North Korea, a US official told AFP Friday.
The comment from the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, came shortly after the conclusion of Trump's second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, which ended without a formal agreement but with both sides suggesting they will keep talking.
NBC News first reported that the Foal Eagle drills -- which usually take place in the spring -- would be scrapped, citing two unnamed US defense officials.
Foal Eagle is the biggest of the regular joint exercises held by the allies, and has always infuriated Pyongyang, which condemned it as preparations for invasion. In the past, it has involved 200,000 South Korean forces and some 30,000 US soldiers.
It overlaps with the Key Resolve exercise.
Since Trump's first summit with Kim last year in Singapore, the US and Seoul have scaled back or scrapped several joint military drills, and US bombers are no longer flying over South Korea.
Trump has repeatedly complained that the exercises are too costly.
NBC reported that the annual exercises would be replaced with "smaller, mission-specific training."
The Republican president however has ruled out withdrawing any of the 28,500 US forces based in South Korea to defend it from its nuclear-armed neighbor, which invaded in 1950.
Any such drawdown would face strong pushback from the US Congress and Japan, whose conservative government is deeply wary of North Korea's intentions.
China says UN should discuss N.Korea sanctions relief
Beijing (AFP) March 1, 2019 - China called Friday for North Korean sanctions relief to be discussed at the UN Security Council after US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un ended a summit without a deal.
Beijing is the North's main trade partner and sole major ally, but it has backed a raft of UN sanctions following Pyongyang's repeated nuclear and missile tests in recent years.
Both North Korea and the US note that lifting sanctions is an important part of the denuclearisation process, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang.
"They should be considered simultaneously and resolved together, I think this is a common denominator that should be seized," Lu said at a regular press briefing.
Noting "the positive developments on the peninsula, especially the steps taken by North Korea on denuclearisation," Lu said the UN Security Council should "start discussions on the reversible clauses of the resolutions."
The council should "adjust the sanctions in accordance with the principle of simultaneous reciprocity," he said.
Trump and Kim ended their summit in Hanoi on Thursday without a deal, with the two sides at an impasse over the sanctions imposed on the North.
Trump insisted Pyongyang wanted a lifting of all sanctions imposed on it over its banned weapons programmes.
But North Korea's foreign minister said Pyongyang had only wanted some of the measures eased, and that its proposal to close "all the nuclear production facilities" at its Yongbyon complex was its best and final offer.
Meanwhile, a senior Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs official, Yang Jiechi, spoke with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the summit on the phone, the foreign ministry said.
Pompeo told Yang that Washington will maintain contact with the North Korean side and that the United States "highly appreciates the positive role China played on the Korean peninsula issue," the ministry said in a statement.
Yang said the Korean Peninsula issue is complex and "difficult to solve overnight."
He urged the two sides to "maintain patience" and "persevere in pushing forward the peace talks."
China is willing to continue playing a "constructive role," he said.
Kim met with Chinese President Xi Jinping four times in the past year, most recently in January, and is expected to take the train back across China on Saturday on his way home following his Vietnam visit.
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Nuclear weapons on menu at Trump-Kim dinner
Hanoi (AFP) Feb 26, 2019
Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un meet Wednesday in Hanoi for the second date in an unlikely friendship that the US president hopes will push North Korea's reclusive leader closer to reaching a deal on his nuclear arsenal. Trump touched down late Tuesday on Air Force One after flying half way around the world from Washington, while Kim arrived earlier, following a two-and-a-half-day train journey from Pyongyang. On completing their marathon trips, the protagonists of international diplomacy's most su ... read more
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