MILITARY/SOUTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed not to hold springtime military exercises during the Olympics, the South Korean president’s office said Thursday [1-4-18], a move that could cool tensions with North Korea.
The agreement came during a 30-minute phone call between the two presidents, Seoul’s presidential Blue House said in a statement.
Mr. Moon had requested the U.S. delay the annual exercises, which Pyongyang has railed against, so they don’t coincide with the Paralympics, which end on Mar. 18.
Disagreement has been brewing between Seoul and Washington over how to rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons program. The U.S. late Wednesday in Washington requested South Korea arrange the call, an official at the Blue House said, declining to comment further.
The Moon administration has seized on an opening from North Korea to propose a face-to-face meeting next week to discuss its atomic weapons program and an announcement by Mr. Kim that he would consider sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics in the South Korean ski resort of Pyeongchang next month.”
-Andrew Jeong, “U.S. and South Korea Agree Not to Hold Military Exercises During Olympics,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 4, 2018 10:19am