The US and South Korea have confirmed that they have called off upcoming joint military exercises, after President Donald Trump pledged to halt the drills in the wake of his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
South Korea said the suspension would affect large-scale exercises scheduled for August that would have involved some 17,500 US military personnel.
Seoul has tens of thousands of US troops on its soil to help protect it from its hostile northern neighbour.
Last week, Mr Trump said the US would halt 'war games' with its South Korean security ally, without making clear when the freeze would begin.
Mr Trump raised eyebrows by describing the exercises as "provocative" - a term used by the North.
US and South Korean forces have been training together for years and routinely rehearse everything from beach landings to an invasion from the North, or even "decapitation" strikes targeting the North Korean regime.
Pyongyang typically reacts furiously to the exercises. Following drills last year, the North fired ballistic missiles over Japan, triggering global alarm.
At their landmark Singapore summit, Mr Trump and Mr Kim signed a joint statement in which North Korea committed to "work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula".
However, critics have pointed to the vague wording of the non-binding document and raised fears that the summit would weaken the international coalition against North Korea nuclear programme.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has stressed that sanctions would remain in place until North Korea's complete denuclearisation, said he plans to meet Mr Kim for follow-up talks.
South Korea said sanctions against North Korea could be eased once it takes "substantive steps towards denuclearisation", seemingly setting the bar lower than Washington for such a move.
But Mr Pompeo's office said both allies remain "committed to the goal of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation".
