Trump Says Scrapping US-South Korean Drills To Save 'Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars'

(@FahadShabbir)

Trump Says Scrapping US-South Korean Drills to Save 'Hundreds of Millions of Dollars'

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2019) US President Donald Trump said that the decision to scrap large-scale drills with South Korea would save "hundreds of millions of dollars" and help improve relations with Pyongyang.

On Saturday, Washington and Seoul announced the decision to conclude their Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint exercises, which have long been a source of major concern for Pyongyang. The move came just two days after the end of the US-North Korean summit in Hanoi. South Korean media, however, reported that the annual command post exercises, previously known as Key Resolve, would be reconfigured under the new name "Dong Maeng" and would be held on March 4-12.

"The reason I do not want military drills with South Korea is to save hundreds of millions of Dollars for the U.

S. for which we are not reimbursed. That was my position long before I became President," Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

He added that "reducing tensions with North Korea at this time is [also] a good thing!"

The long-anticipated second summit of Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was held in the Vietnamese capital on Wednesday and Thursday. Although the two leaders did not arrive at any concrete agreement at the summit, Trump praised progress in talks and said that negotiations would continue at the level of experts. He also noted that since North Korea was not willing to denuclearize the specific areas that Washington wanted, while seeking full sanctions removal, it was not appropriate to sign an agreement at this point.