US, S Korea hold exercises

SEOUL: About 500 United States and South Korean marines began smallscale military drills yesterday, just days before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to hold talks with North Korea on denuclearisation and plans for a second summit of their leaders.

The Korean Marine Exchange Programme was among the training drills indefinitely suspended in June after US President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore and promised to end joint US-South Korea military exercises.

Although larger exercises were suspended, the two countries have continued smallscale drills, the South’s Ministry of National Defence said yesterday.