South Korea and the United States have decided to postpone their joint military exercises set for this month.

A Defense Ministry official in Seoul said that the decision was made on Sunday during a bilateral meeting between Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and his American counterpart Mark Esper in the Thai capital of Bangkok on the sidelines of the 6th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus.

After the talks, Esper told reporters that Jeong and he have agreed to postpone the combined air exercises after a careful review and close consultation between the defense authorities of the two allies.

Seoul and Washington earlier planned to conduct in mid-November a scaled-back training exercise in lieu of the larger Vigilant Ace annual exercise in an effort to support diplomatic efforts to denuclearize North Korea.

The allies' latest decision came after North Korea issued a warning over the planned military drills last week.