{"id":58939,"date":"2019-11-17T16:29:39","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T16:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/17\/joint-exercise-with-american-and-south-korean-military-criticized-by-north-korea-postponed-in-act-of-goodwill\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:17:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:17:44","slug":"joint-exercise-with-american-and-south-korean-military-criticized-by-north-korea-postponed-in-act-of-goodwill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/11\/17\/joint-exercise-with-american-and-south-korean-military-criticized-by-north-korea-postponed-in-act-of-goodwill\/","title":{"rendered":"Joint exercise with American and South Korean military postponed in \u2018act of goodwill\u2019 toward North Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BANGKOK \u2014 U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday the United States and South Korea have indefinitely postponed a joint military exercise <\/a>in an \u201cact of goodwill\u201d toward North Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move comes even as Japan\u2019s defense minister, whose country feels threatened by repeated North Korean missile launches, told Esper \u201cno one could be optimistic about\u201d changing the North\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement by Japan\u2019s defense chief, Taro Kono, was a stark illustration of the difficulties facing the U.S. and its international allies and partners as they struggle to get North Korea back to negotiations to eliminate its nuclear weapons and missiles. Talks launched by President Donald Trump in 2018 have stalled with no resumption in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the U.S. military for years as called its joint military exercises with South Korea an important means of keeping troops and commanders ready for combat on short notice, Trump has called them a waste of money and a provocation to the North.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esper announced the postponement of the military exercise at a joint news conference with his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Kyeong-doo. They were in Bangkok to attend an Asia defense ministers\u2019 conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esper insisted the postponement was not a concession to North Korea but rather an attempt to \u201ckeep the door open\u201d to diplomacy to eliminate North Korea\u2019s nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI see this as a good-faith effort by the United States and the Republic of Korea to enable peace, to shape … to facilitate a political agreement \u2014 a deal, if you will \u2014 that leads to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,\u201d Esper told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\t