“We took the step to suspend several of the largest military exercises as a good faith measure,” Mattis told reporters. Carefully calibrating his words, Mattis would not say when exercises would resume, apparently leaving some wiggle room for North Korea. “We are going to see how the negotiations go, and then we will calculate the future, how we go forward,” Mattis told Pentagon reporters. While North Korea views the exercises as a “provocation,” they are loathed by China too. But North Korea holds important cards in the talks, he said, noting Pyongyang’s moratorium on missile and nuclear testing could be conditional on negotiations continuing in good faith.

Source: Manila Times August 28, 2018 21:56 UTC