South Korea and the United States have confirmed they end their massive joint military exercises which have infuriated North Korea last summer. As the BBC understood, the decision is backing the efforts of diplomatic corps on denuclearization of the peninsula.
The US President preferred to suspend many military joint drills with South Korea last year, that decision came after the warming relations with North Korea. Mr Kim Jong-un found the US-South Korean war game provocative and looking like a preparation for a military invasion.
In fact, president Trump has complained of the cost of such exercises, although he has ruled out withdrawing US troops from the peninsula – currently numbering about 30,000.
On Saturday, the defence ministers from the US and South Korea agreed to end the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve series of exercises in a phone call. While the critics believe cancelling the drills could undermine US and South Korean military defences against the North, others say those concerns are unjustified. The world is changing very fast, and the most recent example is the Hanoi summit last week. Both President Trump and Kim Jong-un have left Vietnam abruptly without an agreement.
Donald Trump said he had to “walk” because the North Koreans had demanded the full lifting of economic sanctions before denuclearisation. But North Korea’s foreign minister said Kim Jong-un had asked only for partial sanctions relief in exchange for disabling the main nuclear complex at Yongbyon.
