The U.S. and South Korea announced late Saturday the two countries will end annual large-scale joint military exercises as part of diplomatic efforts to “achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
In a statement, the Pentagon said acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and South Korea Minister of National Defense in a phone call Saturday decided to end the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises.
The decision comes three days after a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam that ended without an agreement to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis.
Seoul’s Defense Ministry released a similar statement, according to the Associated Press.
The president had long been critical of the cost of these joint exercises that bring in thousands of troops, fighter jets, warships and other military assets from U.S. bases around the world.