U.S. President Donald Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he could restart wargames with South Korea "instantly" but maintained "there is no reason at this time" for them to re-commence.
Trump posted what he said was a White House statement to Twitter that largely focused on China, blaming Beijing for ongoing inertia in talks aimed at securing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Trump said China is giving Pyongyang "considerable aid, including money, fuel, fertilizer and various other commodities".
The American defense chief said Tuesday there are no considerations to suspend additional military drills with South Korea after U.S. President Donald Trump cancelled exercises planned for this summer.Trump made the decision as a concession to North Korea amid U.S. efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, calling the drills "very provocative." But progress on denuclearization appears to have stalled -- a fact Trump acknowledged last week when he called off a planned trip by his top diplomat to North Korea.Addressing reporters alongside Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Washington has "no plans" to cancel further exercises."We will work very closely, as I said, with the Secretary of State, and what he needs done we will certainly do to reinforce his effort. But at this time, there is no discussion about further suspensions," Mattis said. "We're making no changes to the exercise program at this time."Mattis said Trump's decision to cancel exercises planned for this summer was a "good faith" measure following the president's historic sit-down with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore last June.The U.S. has conducted military drills with South Korea since the 1950s and has roughly 28,000 troops stationed there.Addressing concerns over the Saudi Arabian-led coalition's bombing campaign in Yemen, Mattis said U.S. support for the coalition is not unconditional, but voiced support for "Saudi Arabia's sovereign right to self-defense.""We are also working closely with the coalition that is fighting to support the U.N.-recognized government in order to determine what went wrong with errant bombing attacks and prevent their recurrence," he said.UN experts Tuesday said individuals in the Yemeni government and coalition forces conducted attacks in Yemen that may amount to war crimes.Coalition airstrikes, according to the report, caused “most direct civilian casualties after hitting residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats, and medical facilities.”About 6,660 civilians were killed and 10,563 injured in the Yemeni conflict since March 2015, the UN Human Rights Office said, warning real figures are likely to be “significantly higher."One of the most grisly airstrikes took place Aug. 9 when two dozen children were killed in an attack on a school bus.Mattis said continued U.S. support for the coalition is conditional on them doing "everything humanly possible to avoid any innocent loss of life, and they support the U.N.-brokered peace process."No talks with US over resuming military drills: Seoul
US says no plan to suspend more SKorea military drills
"This is not helpful!" he said in a now signature brief exclamation.
The president praised his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un but made a veiled threat to the North over joint military drills with the South which Trump previously called "very provocative," echoing the North's rhetoric, before calling them off.
"The President can instantly start the joint exercises again with South Korea, and Japan, if he so chooses. If he does, they will be far bigger than ever before," Trump said.
There have been no talks with the United States over resuming joint military exercises in South Korea, according to Seoul's presidential office Wednesday.U.S. President Donald Trump unexpectedly suspended large drills this summer after reaching a broad denuclearization agreement with North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un in June.But after weeks without progress in terms of the North's nukes, American Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Tuesday that they "have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises".Pyongyang views the so-called war games as preparations for an invasion.Even though the allies have maintained they are defensive in nature, Trump's concession was seen as a gesture of good faith.While Washington can legitimately argue that there was never an agreement to abandon joint drills altogether, Trump even spoke in June of a future pullout of American troops from the peninsula.Around 30,000 U.S. forces are stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the Korean War.Regarding future military exercises, Seoul's presidential office spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom was quoted by Yonhap News Agency insisting "it is an issue that should be discussed and decided by South Korea and the U.S. while reviewing the progress in the denuclearization of North Korea"."As of now, the issue has not been discussed between South Korea and the United States," Kim stated at a press briefing.Despite the cancellation of this week's planned trip by American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang, South Korean President Moon Jae-in remains on course to visit the North Korean capital for a summit next month.Seoul to ‘review’ inter-Korean liaison office planNorth Korea newspaper blasts 'double-dealing' US after Pompeo's trip cancelledKorean NGOs mark Rohingya Genocide Remembrance DayNorth Korean media calls US demands 'foolish'
No talks with US over resuming military drills: Seoul
The comments add to growing confusion over the joint drills.
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon that while the U.S. called off the summer wargames with the South, there are no plans currently in place to halt additional joint exercises.
"At this time, there is no discussion about further suspensions," Mattis said. "We're making no changes to the exercise program at this time."
The defense chief said Trump's decision to cancel exercises planned for this summer was a "good faith" measure following the president's historic sit-down with Kim in Singapore last June.
The U.S. has conducted military drills with South Korea since the 1950s and has roughly 28,000 troops stationed there.