US, S Korea discuss future of joint military drills

Washington DC [United States], June 16 (ANI): US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has discussed with his South Korean counterpart, Song Young-moo, the future of their joint military drills after US president Donald Trump said that he would be suspending them.

Pentagon, in a statement issued, said that Mattis, in a 30-minute "in-depth" telephonic conversation, with his South Korean counterpart Song Young-moo, discussed the results of the historic Trump-Kim Summit held on June 12 in Singapore, according to several media reports.

Mattis and Song also "discussed their mutual support to ongoing diplomatic efforts, to include how we are working together to fulfil the President's guidance on U.S.-ROK (South Korea) combined military exercises," the statement added.

Mattis reaffirmed the ironclad U.S.-South Korean alliance, the Pentagon statement added, "Both pledged to continue working closely together towards regional peace and stability."

Moreover, Mattis discussed the results of the summit with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera also, the Department of Defence said in a separate statement.

On Tuesday, in an almost one-hour press conference after the summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, Trump assured that the United States (US) will cease holding "war games" on the Korean Peninsula.

He also called the drills "very expensive" and "provocative."

The US maintains around 30,000 troops in South Korea, as well as a base for Air Force fighter plane squadrons. Exercises, in particular, involve planes and ships coming in from elsewhere, mostly from the island of Guam, in the Western Pacific, CNN reported.(ANI)

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