US signals military exercises in SKorea to resume

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis opened the door Tuesday to restarting large-scale military exercises on the Korean Peninsula, appearing to contradict President Donald Trump, who had labeled the war games costly and “provocative” two months ago in trying to lower tensions with North Korea.

Mattis insisted that the step does not signal that the era of détente between the Trump administration and Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, is over.

But the Pentagon chief’s comments came amid souring relations: In the past week, the United States canceled a trip by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang, and North Korean state media accused the United States of “doubledealing attitudes” and “extremely provocative and dangerous military moves.”

“We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a goodfaith measure coming out of the Singapore summit,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday, referring to Trump’s decision to shelve largescale drills with South Korea after meeting with Kim in June.

“We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises,” Mattis said.

Any resumption of large military exercises involving the Americans and South Koreans is certain to infuriate North Korean officials, who regularly denounce such operations. And the reversal reflects confusion within the Trump administration about how to deal with North Korea.

The president’s declaration of victory after his landmark summit meeting in Singapore in June has given way to tense accusations and counteraccusations. Trump has not yet returned to the verbal hostilities he engaged in on his Twitter feed during his first year in office, when he referred to Kim as “Rocket Man” and raised the specter of bombing North Korea.

Part of the confusion, officials said, is a result of Trump’s top deputies — particularly at the Pentagon — not being consistently included in the president’s plans for North Korea. For instance, Trump’s decision in June to suspend the huge annual military exercises that had long been planned with South Korea took even senior U.S. military officials by surprise. Suspending the military exercises was widely seen as a concession to North Korea, and Defense Department officials said they expected the United States to receive something in return if the drills were shelved again.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the cancellation of Pompeo’s trip came after a top North Korean official sent a secret letter to the secretary of state that convinced him and Trump that the visit was not likely to succeed.

Pompeo received the letter from Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee, on Friday morning, and showed it to Trump in the White House, two senior administration officials confirmed. The exact contents of the message are unclear, but it was sufficiently belligerent that Trump and Pompeo decided to call off Pompeo’s trip, where he was set to introduce his newly announced special envoy, Stephen Biegun, to his North Korean counterparts.