pentagon has cancelled two joint marine—training exercises with south korea. it follows the decision earlier in the week to suspend a major joint—military exercise between the two countries which was planned for august. the pentagon said the move was part of the agreement reached between president trump and the north korean leader, kim jong—un, in singapore earlier this month. 0ur correspondent sophie long is in seoul. when donald trump announced he would be stopping joint military exercises in his press conference after the june 12 summit, it came as a surprise to some people and particularly the language used. he called them provocative, expensive war games. these joint military exercises have always been referred to by the us and south korea in the past as defensive measures necessary to maintain military preparedness. in terms of the statement we heard from the pentagon today, we heard that the us defence secretary james mattis had decided to postpone indefinitely two korean american exchange programme exercises due to take place over the next few months. this comes after of

between north and south korea, following years of tension. i asked our correspondent in seoul, sophie long, what the country's prime minister is expected to tell the veterans. he used a speech on this day last year, the 67th anniversary of the korean war, to urge north korea to abandon its nuclear missile development programmes and come out on the path to denuclearisation. an indication ofjust how things may have changed, i use the word may because there is still deep scepticism among some here in south korea aboutjust how far the recent warming in relations can take them, but while the prime minister is speaking in seoul, we also know that there are military talks taking place between north and south korea on the korean border to fully re—establish communication lines. and over the weekend of course, we have heard other news, small significant steps towards denuclearisation. we had that pentagon announcement that two more joint military exercises that are normally held here in south korea will be postponed indefinitely, and we also heard about the reunion of divided families, famil

not on a massive extended time frame. however, there are certainly people in south korea and in the us 's sake, look, ultimately we will acce pt sake, look, ultimately we will accept that north korea will have some sort of nuclear weapons, sort of pakistan deal where there are nuclear weapons, but they are sort of in the background, and is north korea would agree to some sort of intrusive inspections and sign up to the nonproliferation, the regime, it would have to do lots of things, but there is no sign at all that the trump administration would accept anything like that, and it would be hugely problematic for president trump to pull out of the iran nuclear deal then agreed to a deal with north korea that is worse than he said the deal was with iran. 0k, thank you, rupert wingfield—hayes, from singapore, outside the hotel where kim jong—un is staying. from singapore, outside the hotel where kimjong—un is staying. much more from rupert throughout the day as we continue coverage of that meeting. that is on tuesday, between kim jong—un meeting. that is on tuesday, between kimj

between us and north korea and south korea and north korea. the un did a big report on human rights couple of years ago and the north koreans reacted sharply to that and the argument from the doves is this is something we have to hold for the future, get the ball rolling and bring it up maybe in the future. i'm hopeful. this is why there is so much anxiety with north korea, it isn't your run of the mill dictatorship, it is 0rwellian, like 1984, there will be lots of pressure. . . 1984, there will be lots of pressure... if this keeps going and it becomes a major long—running dialogue between the us and north korea, there will be pressure from the human rights communities and others to get the north koreans to be changed and less horrific to their own people before we normalised with them. if we have normalised with them. if we have normal relations with them then they need to be a normal state, which it isn't now. very quickly, briefly, i wa nt to isn't now. very quickly, briefly, i want to break down the language, the doves and the hawks, talk us through that? on the left, the dov

peninsula. 28,000 american troops currently in south korea. kim jong—un also wants to be a global player, that's what he wants, to be considered in the same circles. so president trump will have to be careful not to give him too much, but not to insult him by calling him rocket man. and north korea needs money so they are desperate for all international sanctions to be lifted, which will allow them to actively engage in international trade. it's late here in singapore at the moment but in the united states they are waking up and it is the sunday political programmes so lots of reaction the pictures we were seeing are being beamed back to the united states. just some interesting things to bring you. senator lindsey graham is in the republican party, quite close to donald trump, he says if diplomacy fails this week then they need to put force on the table. as an aside, we should say he has a bill ready to go in that case. north korea says we will try to run out the clock, north korea has to understand that there is a political calendar here. they always try to outrun presidents in their fi

that took south korea by surprise. we will be stopping the war games, which will save us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until we see the future negotiations not going along like they should. the president lavished praise on kim jong—un, but that brought this question. the man you met today, kimjong—un, as you know, has killed family members, has starved his own people. why are you so comfortable calling him very talented? well, he is very talented. anybody that takes over a situation like he did, at 26 years of age, and is able to run it, and run it tough — i don't say he was nice, or i don't say anything about it. he ran it. very few people, at that age, you can take one out of 10,000, probably, couldn't do it. from this remarkable meeting ground, where the flags fly side—by—side, donald trump now sees a future where the us and north korea are working together. the word "historic" is often overused. today, it was justified. extraordinary strides have been taken to get to this point, but it is what happens next that is really crucial. how do you ensure that north k

reduction of the us military presence on the peninsula. around 20,000 us troops in south korea at the moment. —— around 28,000 us troops in south korea at the moment. kim jong—un also wants to be a global player — treated as an equal alongside china, russia, japan, and south korea. we have already seen today he was meeting the south korean prime minister. suddenly from someone in total isolation, he is the flavour of the month. so president trump needs to ditch his "rocket man" label. and north korea needs money, so they are desperate for all international sanctions to be lifted which will allow them to actively engage in international trade. if you want an idea of how deep those sanctions bite, you canjust look at what he arrived on, and air china plane, there isn't even a plane in north korea worthy of bringing the leader to a summit like this. let's speak to someone who follows the north korean situation very closely, doctor robert kelley, who will be here with us for the next few days. he is of course a professor of political science at the pusan university, giving you

. but mr abe seems to have been sidelined. kim has met with china's president xi, south korea's president moon, and mr pompeo. mr trump, meanwhile, is already thinking of other photo ops with mr kim. reporter: sir, if you do invite him to the united states, would it be here at the white house, or at mar—a—lago? maybe we'll start with the white house. what do you think? mr abe has invested a lot of time building a personal relationship with mr trump. but, as other leaders of us allies have discovered to their cost, friendship does not always come up with benefits. and, with mr trump so keen for his own success, mr abe might be right to worry. jane o'brien, bbc news, washington our north america correspondent, peter bowes, told me more about these comments from the trump administration might mean. well, it's looking to me like we're getting different levels of expectations for this summit next week from donald trump and from his secretary of state. we just heard donald trump perhaps playing down expectations a little bit, saying that he doesn't have to be overly prepared, at least that'

government posts injapan and south korea. hejoins me now from washington. presumably it is a lot cooler there in washington. it is interesting because your background is really looking into security as well. really around some of the concerns about cyber hacking and other issues that north korea has been involved in over the last few years. you said that kim jong—un has in over the last few years. you said that kimjong—un has had a variety of roles, a long career including intelligence roles within the north korean apparatus. tell us about that and how that may play into some of these talks that we are closely watching. the person who came to washington, the north korean envoy, ahead of the summit had a variety of senior intelligence roles and had beenin senior intelligence roles and had been in government for a long time. that kim jong—un has been in government for a long time. that kimjong—un has his position, the nature of his position as the son and grandson of the countries previously the and founder. is legitimacy and basis as leader comes from his bloodline rather than ex

programme at the asan institute for policy studies. i asked her how optimistic people are in south korea about a deal being done between the united states and north korea. i would say the korean people are cautiously excited and optimistic. first, the history of the summit between the north korea and the united states, although there has been turmoil last week. so we have very high hopes and expectations for the summit onjune i2. and many people seem to believe that something really big and important can happen during the summit, particularly if there is any declaration of ending the war, the korean war at the meeting, at the trilateral meeting. and the united states, that would be a wonderful thing for the korean people. one major potential problem seems to be that the us and north korea have very different definitions of "denuclearisation". it has been discussed for a long time and it is still up in the air. we saw secretary pompeo after his meeting this morning, many people say that there have been different approaches that this time it seems to be different and the united states, which is

agreement to south korea. there is flash photography in this report from jon donnison. north korean state television. and this morning, the woman they call the pink lady had some triumphant news. the united states, she said, had agreed to stop joint military exercises with south korea, and also lift sanctions. in the official agreement, signed in singapore, there was no mention of either of those concessions. president trump has since said he is not ready to lift sanctions yet. but he later confirmed yesterday's somewhat out—of—the—blue announcement that the so—called war games, joint military exercises with south korea, would be ending. we're not going to be doing the war games as long as we are negotiating in good faith. so that is good for a number of reasons, in addition to which, we save a tremendous amount of money. you know, those things, the cost... i hate to sound like a pure businessman. these are the joint military exercises he is talking about. news that they would be ending was apparently a surprise to the south koreans, the us military, and even, reportedly, many of

his much anticipated meeting with north korea's leader kim jong—un. reports say mr kim is also on his way. the south korean news agency, yonhap, said mr kim's privatejet had left pyongyang en route to singapore. before leaving mr trump was asked how long it would take to figure out if kim jong—un is serious about the talks. how long will it take to figure out whether or not they are serious? i said, "maybe in the first minute." you know they say how you know if you're going to like somebody in the first five seconds, you ever hear that one? well, i think that i'll very quickly know whether or not something is going to happen. i also think i will know whether or not it will happen fast. it may not. but i think i will know pretty quickly whether or not, in my opinion, something positive will happen. and if i think it won't happen, i'm not going to waste my time, i don't want to waste his time. president bashar al—aassd of syria has again alleged that western nations have stoked the conflict in his country. in an interview with the mail on sunday, he also defended russia's involv

some way away from what north korea wants as stage by stage. they will, however, have taken heart from the idea that a peace treaty could be part of the summit, an end officially to the war between north and south. the stalemate has lasted 65 years. meanwhile, here in the korean peninsula, south has been talking to north. they have had their own talks about cooperation in the future, about economic ties. one other piece of good news that has come to seoul are the words from america's defence secretary. now, he is in a defence summit in singapore already and he said that there will be no move to pull us troops out of this region as a result of the singapore summit. the security of the region, which at the moment depends on the us, is maintained, for the medium term at least, and obviously that prospect of a longer term peace is now hanging before us all with the summit on the 12th ofjune. the us defence secretary, james mattis, has accused china of trying to intimidate and coerce its neighbours by deploying missiles in the south china sea. speaking to south—east asian defence min