In Trump's pursui­t to improv­e ties with North KoreaWASHINGTON: The US military and South Korea are planning to “discontinue” annual large-scale military exercises as President Donald Trump pursues efforts to improve ties with North Korea, a US official told AFP on Friday. In South Korea, a government official suggested the drills would be downgraded rather than scrapped entirely. North Korea offers more talks after nuclear no-deal in Hanoi“If we define the size of the drills solely by the number of the soldiers, then yes, the exercises will likely be smaller,” the official told AFP. Since Trump’s first summit with Kim last year in Singapore, the US and Seoul have scaled back or scrapped several joint military drills, and US bombers are no longer flying over South Korea. President Trump has complained repeatedly over the cost of the drills, describing them at the Hanoi summit as “very, very expensive”.

Source: The Express Tribune March 02, 2019 05:03 UTC