S. Korea's Blue House will 'soon announce whether there are changes to S. Korea, U.S. joint drills'

청와대 '8월 한미을지연합훈련 조정 조만간 발표' Seoul and Washington have begun discussions on whether the allies should pause their joint military exercises.South Korea's top office says it will soon arrive at a decision to be announced. Our chief Blue House correspondent Moon Connyoung has our top story. South Korea's presidential Blue House will soon announce whether to temporarily halt the joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States... and that will include the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian which takes place every August. A senior Blue House official met with reporters on Friday and said... although no decision has been finalized yet, South Korea should be able to announce its position soon enough after close consultation with the U.S. The official said Seoul and Washington were in talks based on the South Korean president's order from Thursday's National Security Council meeting that South Korea should carefully review the possibility of flexibility to the South Korea, U.S. joint military exercises if North Korea's sincere denuclearization efforts and talks with the South and the U.S. continue. But, he said they do not yet have any decision on detailed changes to this fall's scheduled Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercises, one of the largest military exercises in the world. The war games, which last year ran for 11 days, have involved some 17-thousand-500 U.S. forces, including about 3-thousand from outside the peninsula, and 50-thousand South Korean troops. During his talks with reporters, the high-ranking Blue House official hinted that Seoul had been in discussions with Washington regarding the idea of a pause in the allies' major military exercises prior to the U.S. president's announcement in Singapore... saying Seoul and Washington had been in close and active consultation with one another on various levels particularly on issues of security. Meanwhile, South Korea's overall assessment of the North Korea, U.S. summit in Singapore has been extremely positive... with its key official today crediting the summit as having reset the conditions for North Korea to denuclearize with confidence, open up and participate in the community of nations.Moon Connyoung, Arirang News, the Blue House.