The former head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii said the “landscape has shifted” following this week’s U.S.-North Korean summit — perhaps avoiding a war — and he is in favor of giving major exercises with South Korea a “pause.”

In 2017 “we were in a different place,” retired Adm. Harry Harris, the nominee to be the next ambassador to South Korea, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.

“North Korea was exploding nuclear weapons, they were launching ballistic missiles. And if war wasn’t imminent, it was certainly possible, maybe even likely,” Harris said.

The highly respected Harris, who stepped down at Indo-Pacific Command on May 30, was first tapped to be ambassador to Australia but was subsequently redirected to fill the same job in volatile South Korea.

At a confirmation hearing Thursday, Harris was praised for his abilities as a warrior and diplomat.

“Adm. Harris’ expertise in the Indo-Pacific region, his leadership experience, and engagement with a variety of stakeholders in the region will stand him in good stead as our ambassador to South Korea,” said U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said the nomination is “fitting and timely” with the necessity of having the most prepared and skilled ambassador to represent the United States as it enters a new era of diplomacy with North Korea.

“He (Harris) is going to make a great ambassador, just like he made a great commander,” Nelson said.

The Pentagon has halted “major” military exercises with South Korea, Agence France-Presse reported, after President Donald Trump said at the Singapore summit that “we will be stopping the war games,” which are expensive and a provocation to the North.

The United States and North Korea agreed to “build a lasting and stable peace,” and the North vowed it would “work toward complete denuclearization” on the Korean Peninsula.

As head of Indo-Pacific Command, Harris said he advocated for continued military exercises with South Korea as the North steadily built its nuclear and ballistic missile capability.

But following the summit, “we are in a dramatically different place,” he said. “I believe the landscape has shifted and that we should give exercises — major exercises — a pause to see if Kim Jong Un, in fact, is serious about his part of the negotiations.”

Trump’s announcement about war games caught the Pentagon by surprise, The New York Times reported. The signed agreement is vague, and questions remain as to whether lower-level readiness exercises will be held with South Korea.

Harris, who admitted he didn’t have all the answers on the question of exercises, was asked by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., whether postponing regularly scheduled training with South Korea would damage U.S. readiness in that region.

“For short periods of time, no,” Harris said, adding it would be up to the Defense Department “to determine what is allowed under the new construct. But I’m convinced and I know the administration has underscored that our alliance commitments to South Korea remain ironclad and have not changed.”

Asked what message the exercise drawback sends to competitor China, Harris said it was too early to tell whether it’s a benefit to China.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., suggested one of the leading reasons Kim sat down to talk is because “he had serious doubts about whether they could attach a warhead to a missile before the economy collapsed. They were in a race between being able to prove that capability and economic collapse that threatened the regime.”

Harris said he was not sure “what is going on in Kim Jong Un’s mind,” but he thinks the force of the “maximum pressure campaign,” including harsh sanctions, is what brought Kim to the negotiating table in Singapore.