US to suspend military exercises with South Korea, Trump says
(The Guardian North Korea)

US move in exchange for North Korean denuclearisation pledge takes Seoul by surpriseDonald Trump has ordered the suspension of US military exercises with South Korea, in a surprise concession at an extraordinary summit with North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. The US had previously ruled out such a move on the grounds that the exercises were a key element of its military alliance with Seoul and deterrent against North Korea. Related: Trump-Kim summit: president says US `will be stopping the war games` - live Related: Trump really has achieved a historic breakthrough - for the Kim dynasty | Jonathan Freedland North and South Korea have been divided since the end of the Korean War (1950-53), and except for about a decade ending in 2008, relations between the two have remained frosty. The two nations technically remain in a state of war, since a peace treaty was never signed. There have been occasional outbreaks of violence, most recently in 2010 when 50 people were killed when a South Korean navy corvette was sunk and several islands close to the border were attacked. Continue reading...