Pentagon may resume military exercises with S. Korea

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military may resume the largescale joint exercises with South Korean forces that President Donald Trump halted two months ago, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said Tuesday, the latest sign that prospects are dimming for an agreement with North Korea on eliminating its nuclear weapons.

“We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises,” Mattis told a Pentagon news conference. He left open the possibility that future drills, including a major annual exercise next spring, could be halted later depending on the nuclear negotiations.

The shift comes days after Trump instructed Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo to scrub a planned trip to Pyongyang, a setback in the recent thaw between the two adversaries. In a tweet, Trump cited the lack of “sufficient” progress in the nuclear diplomacy, which has struggled to make headway.

Trump announced a suspension of longstanding joint U.S. military exercises with South Korea as a goodwill gesture after he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June. Trump said he had stopped the “war games” because they are “very provocative,” terms used by North Korea in denouncing the drills.

The president said the training exercises would stop “unless and until we see the future negotiation” on eliminating Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal “is not going along like it should.”

The U.S. conducts major field exercises with South Korea each year, one in late summer or fall and one in the spring, as well as several other training events, using computer simulations and tabletop war games.

After the Singapore summit, the Pentagon said it was canceling a major series of drills known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which were scheduled for two weeks in August and involved 17,500 U.S. forces.