While hailing the summit between the U.S. and North Korean leaders as a meaningful step toward the denuclearization of the North, Japan has grown uneasy over U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt promise to halt U.S.-South Korea military drills.
For U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, military exercises conducted with U.S. forces have been perceived as sending out deterrence messages to the region and serving as a tool to pressure North Korea into giving up its nuclear and missile ambitions.
But in what can be seen as a concession to North Korea, Trump said at a press conference after Tuesday's summit in Singapore, "We will be stopping the war games (with Seoul), which will save us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should."