https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1537150/department-of-defense-press-briefing-by-pentagon-chief-spokesperson-dana-w-whit/

Q:  Hey.  I've got two questions; one, back to North Korea -- this may be too early to ask this, but has there been any discussion at all, whether in New York, or -- or in the DMZ, about joint military exercises being part of the discussion between U.S. and the DPRK going forward -- whether to continue those or to reduce those?  And the same thing on U.S. troop presence in South Korea -- have those discussions at all happened?

And, General, if I could just ask you a follow-up on your statement earlier about the U.S. military having a lot of experience in the Western Pacific -- taking that on, just making sure you were referring to World War II.  And what message are you trying to send to China?

GEN. MCKENZIE:  Sure.  I'll -- it's just a fact.  We have a lot of experience, in the Second World War, taking down small islands that are isolated.  So that's a -- that's a core competency of the U.S. military that we've done before.  You shouldn't read anything more into that than a simple statement of historical fact.

As to North Korea, the point I'd make is, we've probably got to where we are in negotiations because we supported the president's maximum pressure campaign, which involved a certain troop level in Korea and involved joint exercises with our ROK and other partners in the region.  So I wouldn't necessarily look for any of those variables to change, going forward.