Mattis‘ comments were misreported. The U. S.-South Korea alliance has reached no decision on upcoming major exercises.
There’s a bit of confusion about the future of U. S.-South Korea joint exercises amid the fizzling diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang. In a joint press conference on Tuesday, U. S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis addressed the future of allied exercises, noting that, at the time, the United States had “no plans… to suspend any more 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,” Mattis added. “But at this time, there is no discussion about further suspensions.”
He additionally explained the rationale behind the suspension decisions earlier this summer, which pertained to the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian (UFG) 2018 computerized exercises and two Korea Marine Exchange Program exercises . “As you know, we took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit,” Mattis said.
Those were one-time suspensions, intended to facilitate the diplomatic conditions necessary for productive talks. North Korea regards U. S.-South Korea military exercises—particularly UFG and its springtime counterparts, Foal Eagle (FE) and Key Resolve (KR)—as highly provocative.
