[Breitbart] The Associated Press reports that annual military exercises with South Korea have been halted--indefinitely--due to rising tensions on the DMZ and threats of war from Pyongyang. Is this a concession to North Korea's threats, a bid to reduce tensions on the peninsula, or is it necessary to give American and South Korean units a chance to prepare for possible combat?"North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday declared his front-line troops in a 'quasi-state of war' and ordered them to prepare for battle against South Korea in response to an exchange of artillery fire on the border Thursday," the AP reports.
The exercise was supposed to run from last Monday through next Friday, so it is being halted or canceled about halfway through. The anonymous officials who spoke to the Associated Press said they "weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly" and did not know if the exercise would resume.
Very likely a regime measure designed to allow the NORKS to save face and claim victory. Exercises and mobilizations are precursors to war. Standing down from an ongoing exercise is just the opposite.