By Park Ji-won
South Korea has not discussed resuming joint military exercises with the United States, and such a decision is subject to bilateral agreement, a Cheong Wa Dae spokesman said Wednesday.
The spokesman said the Seoul-Washington alliance remains strong, and the two are cooperating closely over North Korea.
“As of now, the issue has not been discussed between South Korea and the United States,” Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters in a morning briefing.
“It is something that should be discussed between the two countries while reviewing the process of the denuclearization of North Korea.”
Regarding the suspicion the U.S. has a different opinion from South Korea over holding an inter-Korean summit in September; he said this was not the case, adding, “the September summit can play a role to solve the deadlock between the North and the U.S.”
His remarks came hours after U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the U.S. had no plans to suspend any more military drills with the South.
“We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit. We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises,” Mattis told reporters.
The U.S. and South Korea agreed to halt their joint military exercises in South Korea in June on the condition the North maintained good faith in its denuclearization efforts.
Mattis' remarks on the exercises come at a delicate moment for negotiations between the United States and North Korea after Trump canceled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to Pyongyang where he was scheduled to meet top officials.
At the June 12 Singapore summit, the first between a U.S. president and a North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un agreed to work toward denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. However, the talks between the two countries have shown no significant progress of late as they have failed to narrow differences in the denuclearization timetable.
“Holding back the war games during the negotiations was my request because they are VERY EXPENSIVE and set a bad light during a good faith negotiation. Also, quite provocative. Can start up immediately if talks break down, which I hope will not happen!” U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on June 17.
Meanwhile, spokesman Kim said the decision to suspend drills such as Key Resolve only affected those scheduled for this year.