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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson poses for a photo with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland at a welcoming ceremony in the Parliament building in Ottawa on Dec. 19. (Yonhap News)

“I’m unaware of any plans to alter longstanding and scheduled and regular military exercises with our partners in South Korea, the Republic of Korea, or with our partners in Japan,” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Dec. 19.

Tillerson was responding to a reporter who had asked whether the US was “considering halting joint military exercises in the lead-up to the Olympics as the South Korean president suggested recently” during a press conference following his meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland in Ottawa. “These exercises…are carried out on a scheduled basis. We announced them in advance. There’s… nothing surprising about them and… I’m not aware of any plans to change what is scheduled,” Tillerson said.

But the Hill, a news website focusing on Congress, reported that the US Department of Defense had responded to a question about Tillerson’s remarks by refusing to comment on future exercises. This suggests that, unlike Tillerson, the Pentagon is not ignorant of Moon’s remarks.

When asked about Tillerson’s potentially confusing remarks, a diplomatic source in Washington said, “Matters related to the military are initially discussed in Seoul with US Forces Korea. If a matter has yet to reach the level of a secretarial meeting in the US, I think that Secretary Tillerson [who is not the head of the relevant department] might well be unaware.”

In related news, the US has sent China the draft of a UN Security Council resolution that would impose tougher sanctions on North Korea following its test launch of the Hwasong-15 missile last month, Reuters reported on Dec. 19. While the details of the draft have not yet been released, it’s expected to include additional curtailment of the supply of crude oil to the North.

On Dec. 19, the White House announced that US President Donald Trump had nominated career diplomat Susan Thornton to be Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific. Thornton has been the acting assistant secretary for nine months since the resignation of Daniel Russel, during which time she has gained Tillerson’s trust and even been publicly praised by him. Thornton is reported to be a relative moderate on China and North Korea.

Andrea Thompson, a former officer in the military and currently a special advisor in the State Department’s Office of Policy Planning, was nominated to be Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent

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