WASHINGTON, June 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Department said on Monday that it has suspended all planning for the joint military drills with South Korea in August.
Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said in a statement that the decision was "consistent with President Trump's commitment in concert with our Republic of Korea ally."
"The United States military has suspended all planning for this August's defensive 'wargame'," she said, adding that no decisions have been made over subsequent military exercises.
The suspended drills refer to an annually-held South Korea-U.S. military exercise slated for August with the full name of Ulchi Freedom Guardian.
Pyongyang has denounced them as a rehearsal for northward invasion and a violation of the spirit of the Panmunjom Declaration issued during the inter-Korean summit in late April.
The most-anticipated move came a week after the historic summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
They issued a joint statement after the meeting, promising to build new bilateral relations and work toward the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
In response to it, Trump said the United States would stop war games with South Korea "unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should." He also said the drills were "very expensive" and "provocative."
According to the Pentagon statement, the suspension has "no impact on Pacific exercises outside of the Korean Peninsula."
It said there would be a meeting at Pentagon later this week attended by U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton.
Last year's Ulchi Freedom Guardian went on for 11 days and about 17,500 U.S. military personnel participated.
The other major U.S. exercises with South Korea, codenamed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, took place earlier this spring.
