South Korea and the United States are expected to cancel a combined air drill for the second straight year to avoid tensions with North Korea as denuclearization talks remain stalled, local media reported Saturday.
 Citing an unnamed source, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the military authorities from the two countries "shared the understanding" to postpone the "Vigilant Ace" military air exercise.
Planned to take place around December across the Korean Peninsula, the source told Yonhap that the countries are likely to conduct their own individual drills instead. He added that Seoul and Washington will make a final decision when the two countries' defence ministers hold annual talks later this month.
Pyongyang has often accused the US of preparing an attack through joint military exercises with its ally South Korea, threatening that such manoeuvres would affect denuclearization talks. US President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the military demarcation line inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea at the end of June and agreed to resume negotiations on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.
Trump is seeking North Korea's denuclearization and has pressured the communist country by ramping up economic sanctions, but progress has stalled in the nuclear talks despite the high-profile June meeting.