Kim in China, Trump Suspends Military Drills with South Korea
Local Editor
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in Beijing, where he is expected to brief Chinese President Xi Jinping on his summit with Donald Trump last week.
Unusually, Kim's surprise visit was announced by Chinese state media within an hour of his plane touching down at Beijing airport on Tuesday morning, and as major roads saw increased security ahead of the arrival of his motorcade.
His arrival in Beijing on Tuesday, amid publicity, marks his third visit to China, after he flew to the northern coastal city of Dalian in May to talk with Xi ahead of the June 12 Singapore Summit.
This comes as US President Donald Trump seems to be delivering on his promise to scale down military exercises with South Korea. A drill scheduled for August has been suspended.
Washington and Seoul have agreed to suspend their preparations for the exercise code-named Ulchi Freedom Guardian, the South Korean defense ministry said on Tuesday. "The South and the US plan to continue consultations over additional measures," the ministry's text message to the media said, as cited by Yonhap news agency.
The South Korean ministry stressed that no decision was taken regarding other joint training exercises with the Americans. Two other major regular joint military exercises hosted by South Korea are Key Resolve and Foal Eagle usually held in springtime and in autumn respectively.
Washington confirmed that joint exercises with South Korea are being suspended for the time being, but did not immediately provide any details.
"Those conversations are ongoing at this point," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Monday, adding the drills "will be paused" as long as North Korea continues acting in good faith.
The Pentagon statement on the announcement was similar to the one released by the South Korean military.
After meeting Kim in Singapore last week, Trump promised to stop "provocative, inappropriate and expensive" joint war games with South Korea. The announcement was an apparent concession to Pyongyang, which perceives massive military exercises, which US and South Korean troops regularly stage, as a major irritant. North Korea says it fears that such an exercise may be used to disguise preparations for an actual attack against it.
The Ulchi Freedom Guardian is a combined military exercise relying heavily on computerized simulation of warfare, which traces its origin to the late 1980s. Last year, some 17,500 American troops and over 50,000 South Korean troops participated in it, during a period of high tension on the Korean Peninsula.
