Japan will reportedly stop conducting civilian evacuation drills that prepare for a possible North Korea missile attack.
The reason? Japanese officials told The Associated Press that the threat of an attack from North Korea has subsided — for the moment.
Earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un promised to work toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Kim made the promise after a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
A Japanese official said last week that the summit helped ease tensions.
The U.S. and South Korea have also announced they will suspenda major joint military exercise later this year. Some past joint exercises between the U.S. and Japan or South Korea prompted North Korean missile launches.
A Japanese official told the AP on Thursday that the evacuation drills will start again if tensions rise between Japan and North Korea.
Tokyo held its first simulated missile attack since World War II in an amusement park in January because the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons was "imminent" at the time. Other Japanese cities followed suit.
