Trump reduced military exercises with South Korea for the sake of Kim Jong-un. What the media is writing
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- Trump reduced military exercises with South Korea for the sake of Kim Jong-un. What the media is writing
US President Donald Trump has announced that he is reducing joint military exercises with South Korea that have begun. According to him, he did this to maintain good relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He also noted that South Korea indicated insufficient US assistance in the war with Iran. How the media react to this unexpected step is in the Izvestia digest.
The Washington Post: Trump reduces military exercises with South Korea
Trump announced that he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "significantly reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his "very good relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un." On August 14, North Korea called the upcoming U.S. military exercises with South Korea a rehearsal for war and threatened to take action against both countries.
The Washington Post
"These exercises are not only expensive, with a significant portion of the costs being paid by the United States of America (as usual!), but they also send a completely inappropriate and hostile signal to a country that, while Donald Trump was president, behaved harmlessly and respectfully," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
According to him, he decided to reduce the number of future exercises because it was already too late to cancel those that were supposed to begin on August 17 and which, according to the United States and South Korea, were supposed to be comparable in scale to the exercises of recent years. In his post on Truth Social, Trump also criticized South Korea for not helping the United States in efforts to denuclearize Iran.
Axios: Trump told Hegset to reduce exercises with South Korea
Trump said he had instructed Hegseth to "significantly reduce" American military exercises with South Korea. The armed forces of the two countries were to begin regular military exercises called the Ulchi Freedom Shield. These exercises have been held annually under this name since 2022, while the summer exercises of the United States and South Korea, from which they originated, have been held for several decades.
Axios
[On August 12], North Korea conducted a ballistic missile test for the first time since June, which experts and military officials regarded as a clear protest against the exercises. The United States, Japan and South Korea condemned the missile launch.
The Japanese-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington is being relocated from the Pacific Ocean to the Middle East, where it is expected to replace the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Thus, the United States will remain without an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean while they conduct shortened exercises with South Korea.
CNN: The United States will reduce joint military exercises with South Korea
South Korea has been a close ally of the United States for more than 70 years, and the two countries have a mutual defense treaty designed primarily to protect it from North Korea, a rapidly developing military power that currently possesses nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles. The United States and South Korea often conduct joint military exercises, and the Korean peninsula is also home to the largest American military base abroad, Camp Humphreys, home to tens of thousands of military personnel, their families, and South Korean citizens.
CNN
The exercises were developed taking into account the changing capabilities of the DPRK and included training on countering drones, GPS failures and cyber attacks. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that the exercises began [on August 17] as planned. It is less clear whether the exercises were abruptly curtailed or not in light of Trump's unexpected announcement.
These exercises are usually large-scale joint events involving thousands of military personnel and large equipment. According to local authorities, at least 18,000 South Korean troops were supposed to take part in the exercises. The South Korean presidential administration said it was studying Trump's comments, adding that it would continue to cooperate with the United States on details regarding the exercises and "maintaining a firm position of united defense." Last year, Trump told South Korean President Lee Jae-myung that he was ready to meet with Kim Jong-un again to discuss a peaceful settlement on the Korean peninsula.
Reuters: Trump ordered the Pentagon to reduce military exercises with South Korea
A few hours before the scheduled start of the exercises, Trump stated on his Truth Social page that he was "unhappy" that the United States had agreed to participate in them, and stressed his "very good relations" with Kim Jong-un. Trump has long sought to stop or reduce military exercises with South Korea, while at the same time coming into conflict with Seoul over the allocation of costs for the deployment of 28,500 American troops in South Korea and their role in ensuring security in the region as a whole.
Reuters
"This decision may be part of a larger effort to create diplomatic opportunities with Pyongyang, which Trump has consistently sought since his return to power, although the chaotic nature of this step is unlikely to make much impression in Pyongyang," said Jenny Town, head of the 38 North program at the Stimson Center think tank.
The relationship between Trump and Kim has been like a roller coaster over the years. Trump once mocked the North Korean leader, calling him a "little rocket man," and threatened Pyongyang with "fire and fury," while Kim boasted that he would "tame a mentally ill American old man with fire." However, they also took part in three summits, with Trump declaring that "we fell in love with each other" after exchanging letters with Kim. None of these efforts have led to changes in North Korea's nuclear weapons policy or ballistic missile development.
Bloomberg: Trump referred to the lack of assistance on the issue of Iran
South Korea, like many U.S. allies, has refused to intervene in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, which began with airstrikes on February 28. Earlier, Trump complained that European allies were refusing to allow the United States to use their airfields for strikes. Trump's decision to re-use the military factor as a lever of pressure may cause concern among other allies in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Japan and Australia. Both countries have security treaties with the United States, but they also chose to stay out of the conflict with Iran.
Bloomberg
"Japan will certainly be concerned," said Adam Farrar, senior geo—economic analyst at Bloomberg Economics and former director of the U.S. National Security Council, who oversaw the situation in Korea during the Trump and Biden administrations. "If this was initiated by Iran, then they themselves are in danger, given their unwillingness to interfere."
Trump's statement also came after South Korea announced the continuation of negotiations on strategic investment projects in the United States, and the media reported that Washington was putting pressure on Seoul to accelerate these plans. South Korea has made less noticeable progress in developing strategic projects included in the $350 billion investment program than Japan. Both countries have made investment commitments during trade negotiations with the United States to limit tariffs on goods for their countries, whose economies are heavily dependent on exports.
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