South Korea and the U.S. have kicked off its new joint military exercise called "Dong Maeng" or meaning "alliance" in English.
The Dong Maeng exercise starts this Monday,and will continue for seven days, except weekend, until next Tuesday.
The new exercise will be much scaled down from the two countries' previous Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises, held every spring.
The decision to kickstart this new exercise was made by a phone conversation defense chiefs of the two countries over the weekend, Seoul's Defense Minister, Jeong Kyeong-doo, and acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.
White House National Security Advisor John Bolton is defending U.S. President Donald Trump that his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi was a failure.
Speaking with CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday local time,Bolton said President Trump had a successful summit in terms of advancing America's national interest.
During an interview with Fox News on the same day, Bolton also said President Trump gave a "big deal" document to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
He explained that the document, written in Korean and English, describes the details of what the U.S. is asking from the North as well as North Korea's potential for economic growth.
Bolton also stressed President Trump is still optimistic about future dialogue with North Korea. Saying the North came to the negotiating table due to economic sanctions imposed by the international community,Bolton said Washington will continue to apply such pressure until Pyeongyang abandons its nuclear weapons.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will hold a National Security Council meeting todayto review the outcome of the Hanoi summit.
The top office says the president will also draw up a planto push forward his roadmap of peace on the Korean Peninsula.
According to the presidential spokesperson,the meeting will be attended by the country's foreign, unification and defense ministers.
The top nuclear envoys of Seoul and Washington will meet in the coming daysto discuss what happened at the Hanoi summit and plan their next moves.
Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, will hold talks with his U.S. counterpart Stephen Biegun, in Washington -- but no date has been announced yet.
South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to coordinate their efforts to push nuclear negotiations forward.
Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump also agreed to meet as early as possible for a summit to discuss their strategy on North Korea.
Source: Arirang News
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