South Korea's Blue House presidential office on Monday distanced itself from arguments made by a government special adviser that President Moon Jae-in was considering downsizing joint military exercises with the U.S.

Moon Chung-in, special adviser for unification, foreign and security affairs, told an audience at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C. on Friday that the President had suggested that South Korea might consider scaling down joint military exercises in exchange for North Korea’s suspension of its nuclear and missile tests.