Despite negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang being stalled, the resumption of major US-South Korea joint military exercises is not “necessary,” acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters Sunday.
American forces regularly conducted large-scale manoeuvers with the South Korean army until the first meeting of US President Donald Trump with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last year.
They were suspended at Trump’s request to facilitate dialogue with Pyongyang and replaced by more limited exercises, but negotiations on the North Korean nuclear program have since stalled.
Asked on Sunday whether the exercises would resume, Shanahan replied, “I don’t think it is necessary.”
The Pentagon chief added that the US forces in South Korea were already “prepared if diplomacy fails” with the North.
“I am confident that we have the readiness that we are required to have, the operational forces and the posture,” Shanahan said while flying to Seoul for the third leg of his week-long tour of Asia.
There are close to 30,000 American troops stationed in South Korea, and their annual drills with tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers have always infuriated the North – with Pyongyang condemning the maneuvers as provocative rehearsals for invasion.
However, following the first summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore in June 2018, the US president said Washington would suspend the “very provocative” joint military exercises with South Korea.
The two leaders also signed a vaguely-worded pledge on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
A second meeting held in Hanoi in February broke up early with no progress toward Washington’s goal of getting the isolated North to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
– with reporting by AFP
Great V I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your site. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs as well as related information ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Reasonably unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or anything, web site theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Nice task..
Very efficiently written story. It will be beneficial to anyone who utilizes it, including yours truly :). Keep up the good work – i will definitely read more posts.
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all of us you actually know what you are talking about! Bookmarked. Please also visit my website =). We could have a link exchange arrangement between us!
Hi, i think that i saw you visited my web site thus i came to “return the favor”.I am attempting to find things to improve my website!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!
I believe what you posted was actually very reasonable.
Cialis cialis reps cialis canada
When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thanks!
I have been reading out a few of your articles and i must say pretty clever stuff. I will make sure to bookmark your website.
I have been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or blog posts on this sort of space . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this website. Studying this info So i?¦m glad to show that I have an incredibly excellent uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I such a lot for sure will make certain to do not fail to remember this website and give it a glance regularly.
you have a great blog here! would you like to make some invite posts on my blog?
Generally I don’t read post on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite nice post.
Hello, reprimand you http://cialisxtl.com in regard to facts! cialis canada
generic viagra prices
Utterly indited content, Really enjoyed reading.
This is the right blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
Some genuinely superb info , Glad I discovered this.
Great post, keep up the good work, I hope you don’t mind but I’ve added on my blog roll.
My brother suggested I might like this blog. He was entirely right. This post truly made my day. You cann’t imagine just how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!
Very interesting info !Perfect just what I was looking for! “Being rich is having money being wealthy is having time.” by Margaret Bonnano.
Thanks for your personal marvelous posting! I really enjoyed reading it, you may be a great author.I will ensure that I bookmark your blog and will often come back very soon. I want to encourage one to continue your great writing, have a nice evening!
This is the right blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!