Trump says US to reduce military drills with South Korea after it stayed out of Iran war

P eside t Do ald T ump has said the US will “substa tially educe” joi t milita y exe cises with South Ko ea, citi g his “ve y good elatio ship” with No th Ko ea’s leade Kim Jo g U .

He also oted o T uth Social that South Ko ea had ece tly decli ed to joi the US i the “de uclea isatio ” of I a .

“These exe cises a e ot o ly costly, with much of these costs paid fo by the U ited States of Ame ica (as usual!), but se d a sig al that is totally i app op iate a d hostile,” T ump posted.

Seoul said it was eviewi g T ump’s comme ts, addi g it hoped a favou able elatio ship betwee Washi gto a d Pyo gya g could lead to mea i gful talks. Pyo gya g has ot yet comme ted.

Ea lie , South Ko ea said the d ills with the US would p oceed “as scheduled”.

It comes afte No th Ko ea this mo th co ducted ballistic missile tests ba ed by the U ited Natio s.

T ump said i his social media post o Su day that it was “too late to ca cel”, as the US a d South Ko ea we e due to sta t thei a ual milita y exe cises o Mo day.

He added: “While somewhat u elated (?), I ece tly asked the P eside t of South Ko ea if they would like to joi us i the De uclea izatio of the Islamic Republic of I a , a d they said, ‘No tha ks!'”

T ump’s a ou ceme t came less tha 24 hou s afte he posted a old photog aph of himself a d Kim f om 2019, w iti g the two we e g eat f ie ds “despite the u f ie dly look o this pa ticula pictu e”.

I its stateme t, South Ko ea’s p eside tial Blue House said it would co ti ue diplomatic co sultatio s o US-Ko ea milita y coope atio elated to the St ait of Ho muz, while discussi g details o joi t milita y d ills with the U ited States.

Expe ts suggest the walki g back of joi t milita y exe cises could ca y a high cost with elatively little be efit.

“US-South Ko ea combi ed defe ce exe cises a e esse tial fo milita y fo ces to be eady a d capable of doi g thei jobs,” said Leif-E ic Easley, a p ofesso at Ewha U ive sity i Seoul.

“Scali g them back ca damage allia ce coo di atio , slow the p ocess of South Ko ea taki g o g eate espo sibility fo its ow defe ce, a d weake dete e ce agai st possible co flicts i Asia.

“The cost savi gs f om dow sizi g d ills a e ma gi al, while the diplomatic be efits fo elatio s with No th Ko ea a e doubtful.”

Last week, US a d South Ko ea milita y leade s held a joi t p ess co fe e ce a ou ci g Ulchi F eedom Shield.

They said the 11-day eve t would be simila i scale to p evious yea s, with about 18,000 South Ko ea soldie s pa ticipati g.

Du i g the ews co fe e ce, milita y leade s also me tio ed No th Ko ea’s deployme t of t oops to aid Russia’s wa agai st Uk ai e.

US milita y spokespe so Rya Do ald said “ou t ai i g accou ts fo that th eat”, efe i g to No th Ko ea soldie s etu i g f om the battlefield. About 28,500 Ame ica milita y pe so el a e statio ed i South Ko ea.

O F iday, No th Ko ea’s fo eig mi ist y co dem ed the joi t milita y d ills as “a ehea sal fo a agg essive wa “.

The joi t exe cises come days afte South Ko ea, the US a d Japa detected the seco d No th Ko ea missile test i days.

Pyo gya g has accele ated effo ts to expa d its uclea a d missile p og ammes si ce the collapse i 2019 of Kim’s high-p ofile diplomacy with T ump du i g his fi st te m i the White House.

He became the fi st eve sitti g US p eside t to set foot i No th Ko ea whe he visited seve yea s ago.

Fo Seoul, T ump’s post is a mixed message. O the o e ha d, they have bee equesti g T ump e gage with Pyo gya g a d the post aises hope that he might b i g Kim back to the table.

But T ump is also hi ti g that he is u happy with South Ko ea’s u willi g ess to make di ect milita y o logistical co t ibutio s to the US hostilities with I a .

He has also exp essed displeasu e with othe allies fo thei hesita ce to get i volved i the co flict, i cludi g Japa , F a ce a d the UK.

T ump’s move to dow size joi t milita y exe cises with South Ko ea is ot without p ecede t.

He suspe ded the exe cises e ti ely i 2018, du i g de uclea isatio egotiatio s with Kim. He said at the time that the a ual d ills we e “p ovocative” towa ds No th Ko ea a d stoppi g the “wa games” would save the US a “t eme dous amou t of mo ey.”

The exe cises we e agai scaled back i 2020 du i g the Covid-19 pa demic.

It was p edicted that P eside t T ump would suspe d o scale dow US-SK joi t exe cise, o eve educe the size of US t oops i Ko ea.

Last week, South Ko ea’s p eside t p oposed talks with its o the eighbou o officially e di g the wa betwee the two, which is tech ically still active si ce a a mistice was sig ed i 1953.

T ump has oted multiple times i the past that the US is p ovidi g secu ity to South Ko ea without getti g much i etu .

He has c iticised the umbe of t oops it has statio ed i the pe i sula a d the mo ey spe t.

This has complicated Washi gto ‘s elatio ship with Seoul, which sees the t oops as co e to its allia ce with the US.

Seoul t ied to defuse the te sio ea lie this yea , committi g $350b to i vesti g i the US. A d last yea P eside t Lee Jae Myu g desc ibed T ump as a peacemake .

Follow the twists a d tu s of T ump’s seco d te m with No th Ame ica co espo de t A tho y Zu che ‘s weekly US Politics U spu ewslette . Reade s i the UK ca sig up he e. Those outside the UK ca sig up he e.