US cancels military exercises with SoKor
SINGAPORE (AP) — The United States and South Korea are scrapping another major military exercise this year, a Pentagon official said Friday, citing a push for diplomatic progress with North Korea.
The top Pentagon spokeswoman, Dana W. White, said Washington and Seoul are suspending an air exercise known as Vigilant Ace “to give the diplomatic process every opportunity to continue.”
It was the latest move aimed at trying to nudge North Korea, which despises such US-South Korean exercises, into negotiating about giving up its nuclear weapons in a way that can be verified.
Vigilant Ace is an annual exercise last held in December 2017.
White said 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.
She said Mattis consulted Japan’s Minister of Defense Takeshi Iwaya on the matter and they “reaffirmed their commitment to regional security.”
Mattis was in Singapore for a meeting of Asian defense ministers. On Friday, he met jointly with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts and then met separately with the Japanese minister.
In June, the Pentagon canceled this year’s Freedom Guardian exercise after US President Donald Trump abruptly announced that he disapproved of what he called US “war games” in South Korea.