South Korea's presidential Blue House said Wednesday that it needs to consider ways to make the dialogue between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States go on smoothly after U.S. President Donald Trump commented on the halt of South Korea-U.S. war games.
Kim Eui-kyeom, spokesman for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told a press briefing that it needs to get clarity about what exact meaning and intention President Trump's comment had at the current stage.
Kim, however, noted that during the period when the DPRK and the United States proceed with an earnest dialogue on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and establishing bilateral relations, it needs to come up with various ways to advance such dialogue more smoothly.
The Blue House's stance came a day after Trump told a press conference in Singapore that he would stop the U.S. joint annual military exercises with South Korea, which he called "provocative" and "expensive."
Trump said it would be inappropriate to stage war games on the peninsula as Pyongyang and Washington reached a comprehensive deal.
Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un signed a joint statement after holding the historic DPRK-U.S. summit on Singapore's resort island of Sentosa on Tuesday, agreeing to complete denuclearization in return for security guarantees.
The two leaders also agreed to set up new DPRK-U.S. relations in accordance with the desire of peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.
The joint annual South Korea-U.S. military exercises have been carried out twice in spring and fall respectively. This year's springtime war games were conducted in April as it was delayed for the South Korea-hosted Winter Olympics. The autumn military drills are scheduled for August this year.
Meanwhile, President Moon has planned to chair a National Security Council (NSC) meeting of the Blue House on Thursday to assess the outcome of the DPRK-U.S. summit and discuss ways to help implement the agreement between Kim and Trump.
