North Korean state media highlights US concession on war games

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North Korean state media highlighted President Donald Trump’s concessions on war games, while lauding the Singapore summit with their leader Kim Jong Un and the U.S. president, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Trump raised eyebrows when he told reporters in Singapore his intentions to stop the joint drills. He called the exercises expensive, “very provocative” and “inappropriate.”

People look at the display of local newspaper reporting the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, at a subway station in Pyongyang, North Korea Wednesday, June 13, 2018. (Kyodo News via AP)

“We’re not going to be doing the war games as long as we’re negotiating in good faith,” Trump told Fox News in an interview in Singapore after he met with Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has long objected to the drills as a security threat.

There was confusion over Trump's comment.  There is another major U.S.-South Korean drill that is due in August, Reuters reported.

U.S. forces in South Korea said they “received no updated guidance on the execution or cessation of training exercises.”

The U.S. still maintains around 28,500 soldiers in South Korea. Incidentally, Trump’s announcement apparently surprised South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s government in Seoul.

“At this point, we need to know President Trump’s exact meaning or intentions,” according to a statement released by Moon’s office, obtained by The Straits Times. “However we think that it is crucial to pursue various solutions for better dialogue.”

U.S. President Donald Trump holds up the document that he and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un just signed at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island Tuesday, June 12, 2018 in Singapore. (Associated Press)

Moon, acting as a mediator, worked for months to help bring about the Trump-Kim summit, Reuters reported.

“Leaving dark days of war and conflict behind, we will write a new chapter of peace and cooperation,” Moon said in a statement obtained by The Times. "We will be there together with North Korea along the way.”

Trump also offered North Korea security guarantees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.