The biggest combat-readiness war game ever staged in and around Japan has gone ahead, however American officials have remained skeptical of Kim’s commitment to give up his nuclear arsenal SEOUL: About 500 US and South Korean marines began small-scale military drills on Monday, just days before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to hold talks with North Korea on denuclearization and plans for a second summit of their leaders. The Korean Marine Exchange Program was among the training drills indefinitely suspended in June after US President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore and promised to end joint, US-South Korea military exercises. Although larger exercises were suspended, the two countries have continued small-scale drills, the South’s Ministry of National Defense said on Monday, adding that the marines were holding a training ground near the southern city of Pohang. Pompeo, interviewed on broadcaster CBS’s “Face the Nation,” said on Sunday he would be in New York City at the end of this week to meet his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol. “I expect we’ll make some real progress, including an effort to make sure that the summit between our two leaders can take place, where we can make substantial steps toward denuclearization,” he added. In Washington last week, South Korea’s defense minister said the two countries would decide by December on major joint military exercises for 2019. Vigilant Ace, suspended this month, is one of several such exercises halted to encourage dialogue with Pyongyang, which has criticized joint US-South Korea exercises in the past. The biggest combat-readiness war game ever staged in and around Japan has gone ahead, however, with nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan joining Japanese destroyers and a Canadian warship in the ocean off Japan, another key player in the effort to pressure North Korea. This week’s exercises follow a warning by North Korea on Friday that it could resume development of its nuclear program if the US did not drop its campaign of “maximum pressure” and sanctions. “The improvement of relations and sanctions are incompatible,” a foreign ministry official said in a statement released through state-run KCNA news agency. “The US thinks that its oft-repeated ‘sanctions and pressure’ lead to ‘denuclearization.’ We cannot help laughing at such a foolish idea.” South Korea hopes the North and the US will make “big progress” during the talks set for this week, presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said on Monday, but declined to comment on the North’s Friday statement. North Korea has not tested a ballistic missile or nuclear weapon for nearly a year, and has said it has shuttered its main nuclear test site with plans to dismantle several more facilities. In recent weeks, North Korea has pressed harder for what it sees as reciprocal concessions by the US and other countries. “As shown, the US is totally to blame for all the problems on the Korean peninsula, including the nuclear issue and therefore, the very one that caused all those must untie the knot it made,” it said on Friday. American officials have remained skeptical of Kim’s commitment to give up his nuclear arsenal, however, and Washington says it will not support easing international sanctions until more verified progress is made. Pompeo, interviewed on television’s “Fox News Sunday,” said the Trump administration wants a full, verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, adding that Trump insisted on “no economic relief until we have achieved our ultimate objective.” South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s continuing efforts to engage with North Korea have fanned US concerns that Seoul could weaken pressure on North Korea to give up nuclear weapons.