BANGKOK • The United States and South Korea said yesterday that they will postpone upcoming military drills in an effort to bolster a stalled peace push with North Korea, even as Washington denied the move amounted to another concession to Pyongyang.
The drills, known as the Combined Flying Training Event, would have simulated air combat scenarios and involved an undisclosed number of warplanes from both the US and South Korea. In deference to Pyongyang, the exercises had already been reduced in scale and scope from previous years, but North Korea still objected to them.
US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said the US and South Korean militaries would remain in a high state of readiness despite the move, and denied it was a concession to North Korea. "I don't see this as a concession. I see this as a good faith effort... to enable peace," he told reporters, as he announced the decision alongside his South Korean counterpart Jeong Kyeong-doo in Bangkok, where Asian defence chiefs are gathered for talks.
"I think creating some more space for our diplomats to strike an agreement on the denuclearisation of the peninsula is very important."
The drills were meant to begin in the coming days.
Earlier this month, a senior North Korean diplomat blamed the US joint aerial drill for "throwing cold water" on talks with Washington. Pyongyang regularly opposes such US-South Korean joint military exercises, viewing them as a rehearsal for invasion.
Still, it was unclear whether the decision by Washington and Seoul would kick-start talks with Pyongyang aimed at getting the reclusive state to give up its nuclear weapons programme.
Dr Esper said he hoped North Korea would respond to the gesture.
"We encourage the DPRK to demonstrate the same goodwill as it considers decisions on conducting training, exercises and testing," he said, using the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"We also urge the DPRK to return to the negotiating table without precondition or hesitation."
North Korea said yesterday that it had tried to interpret the US adjustments to joint drills positively, but the recent United Nations resolution on human rights showed Washington had no sincerity in upcoming talks.
REUTERS