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Trump orders drill cut
President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” joint military exercises with South Korea, saying the drills are costly and send a “signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea.
““send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea”
Trump linked the decision to South Korea’s refusal to join US efforts related to the denuclearisation of Iran, writing that he asked the South Korean president and they said, “No thanks!”
The move came as the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises were scheduled to begin Monday, with South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff telling Reuters the drills started as scheduled.
The Korea Herald reported that Trump’s remarks raised questions over whether the allies can again scale back major drills as they did in his first term, while also triggering sharp criticism from South Korea’s main opposition party over the Lee Jae Myung administration’s handling of the alliance.
Seoul reviews, Pyongyang threatens
South Korea said it was reviewing Trump’s comments, and the presidential office said it was closely following his social media message and hoped the friendly relationship between the leaders of the United States and North Korea would lead to “meaningful US-North Korea dialogue.”
The BBC said Seoul told it the drills would proceed “as scheduled,” while Trump said it was “too late to cancel” and ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” the Joint Military Exercises.
North Korea has not commented on Trump’s order, but the BBC reported that on Friday it threatened “a rehearsal for an aggressive war” and described the drills as triggering greater instability in the region.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, warned in the BBC that “Scaling them back can damage alliance coordination, slow the process of South Korea taking on greater responsibility for its own defence, and weaken deterrence against possible conflicts in Asia.”
What’s at stake next
The exercises are designed to beef up readiness against North Korean threats, with the AP describing 11 days of exercises involving 18,000 South Korean soldiers and the U.S. military saying the drills reinforce “the role of the alliance as the linchpin for regional peace and security.”
“reinforce “the role of the alliance as the linchpin for regional peace and security””
The AP reported that U.S. and South Korean forces were expected to practice joint operations in complex scenarios, including a live-fire exercise to test joint precision targeting and maneuver, a wet gap crossing, and distribution of prepositioned military equipment.
Criticism also came from Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, who the AP said posted that “hollowing out these joint exercises is shortsighted and a mistake,” while Trump’s decision was framed by the AP as part of a broader pattern of turning against an ally in favor of Kim Jong Un.
The Guardian’s “First Thing” column said Trump ordered the reduction because he was “not happy” with US participation “based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong-un,” and it noted that military officials from both countries had warned that Kim’s regime is learning new battlefield tactics from the Ukraine war.
