The US and South Korea have cancelled major war games that have long been a source of tensions on the Korean Peninsula in order to "support diplomatic efforts" with North Korea.

News of the cancellation comes after the second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended without an agreement, though the two sides did pledge to continue to work towards denuclearisation and a peace settlement.

In a statement, South Korea said Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan had discussed the summit and expected more “active dialogue between the US and North Korea based on the outcome of the talks.”

“Through close consultation between the authorities of South Korea and US Defense, the two concluded to end Key Resolve and Foal Eagle,” the statement said, referring to the two major annual drills that typically involve tens of thousands of US and South Korean troops and mock events including rehearsals for invading North Korea.

The drills are regularly denounced by Pyongyang, where they are regarded as preparations for a potential invasion. The drills have previously been used by North Korea to justify the country’s advanced weapons programs. China too has called on the US to cancel the exercises in return for North Korea pursuing denuclearisation.

Trump himself has been a critic of the drills in the past. On Sunday, he tweeted that their cancellation would “save hundreds of millions of dollars for the US.”

The willingness of US and South Korean officials to cancel the long-running drills is a sign both of a continued push on both sides towards a diplomatic outcome, and the radically reduced tensions on the Peninsula since talks began.

North Korea has not conducted any missile or nuclear tests since late 2017, and following the talks in Vietnam with Trump, Kim pledged to continue this pause.

South Korea’s statement said the decision “is a reflection of both countries’ expectations in support of diplomatic efforts to mitigate tensions and achieve a complete denuclearisation in a final and fully verifiable way.”

Both Koreas have agreed to work towards a peace treaty to finally end the Korean War, which ended in armistice in 1953, and scaled back the militarization of the de facto border between the two countries.

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