SEOUL, June 19 (Xinhua) -- South Korea and the United States have decided to "suspend" all planning activities for their annually-held joint military exercises scheduled for August, South Korean Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry said in a statement that the two countries' military authorities would suspend all planning activities for the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, a computer-simulated command post exercise which the ministry said is defensive in nature.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) had denounced the exercise as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said it will continue to consult with its U.S. counterpart on further measures, noting that no decision had yet to be made on other war games between Seoul and Washington.

Other war games refer to the joint springtime war games, codenamed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle.

This year's Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military drills were staged in April as they were delayed for the South Korea-hosted Winter Olympics. The Ulchi Freedom Guardian is slated for August this year.

The decision to halt the war games came after U.S. President Donald Trump said after the DPRK-U.S. Singapore summit last week that he would stop the "provocative" military drills.