Early last year, China suggested a way to defuse the escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula: North Korea would stop its nuclear and missile tests, while the US and South Korea would stop their joint military drills. In the following months, the Trump administration repeatedly dismissed the “dual suspension” or “freeze for freeze” proposal, which Russia also backed. Indeed Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, called the idea “insulting” in September, for equating defensive measures with the belligerence of “a rogue regime.”
Yet now the idea has become reality—just a week after Trump shocked many at the close of the June 12 US-North Korea summit by saying the US and South Korea would cease their “war games,” but without offering details.
The Pentagon said Monday that it was no longer planning for annual war games slated for August. South Korea's defense ministry, meanwhile, announced Tuesday (June 19) that the drill, known as the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise, has been canceled. Given that the move followed North Korea saying in April it would suspend its nuclear and missile tests, it appears that China's “insulting” proposal is now being followed by all sides.
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