SINGAPORE, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The United States will stop conducting war games with South Korea, U.S. President Donald Trump said here Tuesday after a historic summit with Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Answering questions at a press conference at the Capella Hotel in Singapore's resort island of Sentosa, where his meeting with Kim took place, Trump said it is not part of the equation now to bring home the U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea.
But "we will be stopping the war games ... unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should," he said.
He added that such military drills are "very expensive" and "very provocative."
The DPRK has consistently denounced the military drills as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion.
Trump said South Korea contributed to the "expensive" war games, adding that if the war games stop, significant costs could be saved.
The annual South Korea-U.S. military drills are carried out twice in spring and fall. This year, the springtime war games were conducted in April, delayed due to South Korea hosting the Winter Olympics. The autumn military drills were scheduled for August.
In a joint statement, Kim and Trump agreed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees for the DPRK, to which Trump has confirmed his commitment. Kim also confirmed his "unwavering" commitment to complete denuclearization.
The U.S. president said he ultimately wanted to bring the U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea home though currently he had no plan to scale back the U.S. military presence there.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are currently stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.
