Seoul, Aug. 18 -- South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung has stated that joint military drills between Washington and Seoul are defensive in nature and do not reflect any intention to attack North Korea or escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula, following US President Donald Trump's decision to scale back the annual war games.

Addressing a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the South Korean President also urged faster progress in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines after Donald Trump's order to cut joint drills, the official media Yonhap reported.

The response from Seoul, as per Yonhap, came after President Trump on Sunday (local US time) ordered the Pentagon to "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea, calling them ...