President Moon promises to carefully consider stopping joint military exercises

By Lim Chang-won Posted : June 14, 2018, 18:51 Updated : June 14, 2018, 18:51

[Blue House]


SEOUL -- President Moon Jae-in said Thursday he would carefully consider stopping joint military exercises with the United States if North Korea "sincerely" engages in denuclearization and maintains dialogue.

In a press release released the presidential office, Moon said at a high-level security meeting at his office that he would give a "careful review" over the sensitive of suspending regular military exercises between the allies.

After his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, Trump made a sudden overture that he would consider stopping "provocative and expensive" war games.

On Thursday, Moon chaired a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) to discuss Trump's remarks and a joint statement signed at the summit in Singapore. The meeting followed talks between Moon and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"If North Korea sincerely engages in denuclearization measures and maintains sincere dialogue with South Korea and the United States to resolve hostilities, we need flexible changes in military pressure on North Korea in accordance with the spirit of building mutual trust agreed at the Panmunjom Declaration," Moon was quoted as saying.

"I will do a careful review on joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea," the South Korean leader added.

It was not known if Moon discussed the issue at talks with Pompeo. After a conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, Pompeo told reporters that the suspension of the drills would depend on productive negotiations in "good faith".

There are about 28,000 US troops stationed in South Korea. Washington and Seoul insist their joint military exercises are purely defensive in nature, but Pyongyang has condemned them as provocative rehearsals for an attack on the nuclear-armed country.

"We will be stopping the wargames which will save us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until that we see future negotiation is not going along like it should," Trump said after signing a peace agreement with Kim.

"We will be saving a tremendous amount of money. Plus I think that it is very provocative," the American leader said.

Suspending joint military drills is a sensitive issue in South Korea where conservative groups support a strong security alliance to deter any aggression by North Korea.

North Korean troops have staged their own military exercises in response to joint drills by U.S. and South Korean troops. But in their summit in April, Moon and Kim agreed to cease all acts of hostilities against the other side and work on establishing a permanent peace regime that would end confrontation for more than six decades.

 
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