Jim Mattis agrees to cancel December military exercise with South Korea

The U.S. and South Korea have decided to cancel another joint military exercise on the peninsula amid negotiations on the North’s nuclear program, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The decision to suspend the Vigilant Ace exercise held in December comes after a meeting between Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and South Korean Minister of Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo this week.

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The two leaders wanted “to give the diplomatic process every opportunity to continue,” chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement.

“Both ministers are committed to modifying training exercises to ensure the readiness of our forces,” White said.

The Pentagon previously canceled two joint exercises with South Korea over the summer after President Trump called them expensive and unnecessary during talks with dictator Kim Jong Un over giving up his nuclear arsenal.

At a news conference in August, Mattis made clear that while the U.S. was canceling major named exercises as a matter of “good faith,” routine readiness training for U.S. and South Korea forces would continue.

“Remember that what we did when we suspend the exercise, ladies and gentlemen, we suspended several of the largest exercises but we did not suspend the rest,” Mattis said. “So there are ongoing exercises all the time on the peninsula.”

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