U.S. defense chief hints at resuming military exercises with South Korea

Earlier this year, South Korea and the U.S. had decided to put their joint military drills on ice amid thawing of relations with North Korea... but that could be about to change soon.Our Cha Sang-mi reports. U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis says,... while no decisions have been made about joint military exercises with South Korea for next year,... the U.S. military also has no plans to suspend them.Speaking during a news conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday,... Mattis said the suspension of the drills this past summer was a good-faith gesture to North Korea,... but it was not open-ended. "We have no plans at this time 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 that effort. But at this time there is no discussion about further suspensions."The comments come at a delicate time for negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang,... after President Trump scrapped a meeting between top officials from both countries. At their summit in Singapore in June,... President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed in broad terms to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. However,... North Korea has given no indication that it's willing to give up its nuclear weapons unilaterally,... as the Trump administration has demanded. Mattis also defended the Trump administration's approach to North Korea during the press conference, saying the U.S. "knew very clearly" that it was going to be "a long and challenging effort." The traditional U.S. calendar for major military exercises does not pick up until next spring,... which gives diplomats and military planners time.The calendar hits a high point every spring with the Foal Eagle and Max Thunder drills,... which take months to plan. South Korea's foreign ministry said on Wednesday, that it understands Mattis' comments as an extension of Washington's previous agreement with Seoul to suspend the joint-exercises, and that no new agreement has been made.Seoul added that it will continue to work closely with the U.S. with unwavering commitment toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.