{"id":64703,"date":"2019-11-21T03:28:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T03:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/21\/esper-doesnt-regret-delaying-military-drills-despite-north-korea-snub\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:20:16","slug":"esper-doesnt-regret-delaying-military-drills-despite-north-korea-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/11\/21\/esper-doesnt-regret-delaying-military-drills-despite-north-korea-snub\/","title":{"rendered":"Esper doesn\u2019t regret delaying military drills, despite North Korea snub"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday he does not regret postponing a U.S.-South Korean military exercise<\/a>, even though the gesture was rejected by North Korea<\/a> as not enough to restart nuclear diplomacy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prospects for a resumption of the nuclear diplomacy are unclear, with Pyongyang stepping up its pressures on Washington to make bigger concessions. On Wednesday, the North\u2019s 1st vice foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, repeated it won\u2019t return to a negotiating table unless the United States drops its hostile policy against the North. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can discuss the nuclear issue with the U.S. only when it withdraws all its hostile polices against (North Korea),\u201d Choe told reporters during a visit to Moscow, according to South Korean media footage. \u201cIn that sense, I think a summit or leaders\u2019 talks (between North Korea and the U.S.) isn\u2019t an interesting issue for us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. and South Korea announced Sunday they indefinitely postponed the annual Vigilant Ace aerial training <\/a>as part of efforts to revive the nuclear talks<\/a>, as North Korea has called the training an invasion rehearsal. In response, senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol said Tuesday the U.S. must scrap that military drill completely and abandon its hostility against his country if it wants to see the resumption of the nuclear negotiations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Korea wants the U.S. to lift major international sanctions on it and provide security assurances before it fully abandons its nuclear arsenal. But the U.S. has maintained sanctions would stay in place until North Korea takes serious steps toward denuclearization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before boarding his plane in Hanoi, Vietnam, for a flight to Washington, Esper described North Korea\u2019s response to the drill\u2019s postponement as being \u201cnot as positive as we would have liked.\u201d In Esper\u2019s words: \u201cI don\u2019t regret taking the high road.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\t