“We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises.” 
 
 In another sign that the Trump administration’s negotiations with North Korea are faltering, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday said large-scale military exercises with South Korea are back on the table — less than three months after the summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. “We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit,” Mattis told reporters, referring to the June 12 meeting between Trump and Kim. The US military opening the door to resuming the massive military exercises is the latest in a series of decisions by the Trump administration in recent weeks indicating that little progress has been made since the summit, which the president prematurely touted as a “tremendous success.” 
 
 “It will be a total denuclearization, which is already starting taking place,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting on June 21, adding that it was beginning “immediately” — contradicting Mattis, who was sitting next to him at the same table. Earlier in June, after meeting with top North Korean negotiator Kim Yong Chol, Mr. Trump said that the U.S. was holding off on "hundreds" of sanctions while talks were going "nicely." Facing a standstill in diplomatic efforts with the North Koreans, this is the latest indication that the Trump administration is not willing to give concessions to Kim without tangible steps on denuclearization. North Korean officials even warned in a letter to U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week that denuclearization talks risked falling apart, U.S. officials told Reuters. The 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving U.S.-led U.N. forces technically still at war with North Korea. This is a departure from the announcement in June that he had "indefinitely suspended" military exercises with South Korea after President Trump said at his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that the U.S. would stop its "war games" with South Korea. He even adopted North Korea’s description of the exercises as “very provocative.” 
 
 The next military exercise with South Korea had been set for next spring, though the status of that operation, codenamed Foal Eagle, is uncertain, since the US had announced shortly after the June 12 summit that all exercises had been canceled indefinitely. Asked on Tuesday whether the decision to resume war game operations suggested that North Korea was “acting in bad faith,” Mattis hedged, countering “not at all, but we did what we did at the time for that purpose.” 
 
 He refused to answer whether turning the military exercises “back on” would be seen as a provocation given the president’s characterization. On Tuesday, Mattis declined to say whether Foal Eagle or any of the other previously set exercises were being rescheduled, and referred questions to the State Department, which is handling negotiations with North Korea. The State Department said that there had been progress in the U.S.-North Korea talks broadly because there were ongoing discussions. Still, the official acknowledged that would not be indicative of whether the drills will go forward.
– The war games may be back on. Just two months after President Trump announced he had "indefinitely suspended" the "very provocative" military drills by the US and South Korea in a move meant to soothe North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday there are "no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises," per BuzzFeed. Reuters reports the comments come in the midst of a "breakdown in diplomacy" with North Korea over denuclearization, though Mattis denied any act of bad faith on North Korea's part. Referring to the decision "to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit," Mattis said "we did what we did at the time for that purpose." He added there's been no decision on the next large-scale military exercise, previously set for next spring. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was more pointed in her remarks on North Korea Tuesday. "Are [the North Koreans] wishing or maybe changing their minds on denuclearization? It's possible … but we're not changing our minds," she said, per CBS News.