The U.S. Defense Department said Friday it has indefinitely suspended two more upcoming joint exercises with South Korea in the wake of the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit earlier this month.

The decision followed the announcement by the two allies earlier this week of the suspension of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise slated for August, in a move aimed at bolstering negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang over ridding the North of nuclear weapons.

"In support of upcoming diplomatic negotiations led by Secretary Pompeo, additional decisions will depend upon the DPRK continuing to have productive negotiations in good faith," the Pentagon said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterpart from North Korea -- whose formal name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea -- are expected to start talks to implement the "complete" denuclearization the North's leader Kim Jong Un promised during the June 12 meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore.

The additionally suspended drills are two Korean Marine Exchange Program training exercises scheduled to occur in the next three months, according to the statement.

The decision to suspend the drills was made at a meeting involving Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Pompeo, national security adviser John Bolton and Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mattis is expected to further coordinate North Korea policy between the two allies when he visits South Korea next week as part of a three-nation Asian tour that will also take him to Japan and China.

Speaking at a post-summit news conference in Singapore, Trump said Washington would suspend joint military exercises with Seoul as long as dialogue continues with Pyongyang, a move amounting to a major concession to the North.

North Korea has slammed U.S.-South Korea military exercises as a rehearsal for invasion. Washington and Seoul have maintained they are defensive in nature.