Donald Trump said he has ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the joint military exercises that begin today Monday in South Korea. In his message on social networks, the US president suggested that his decision was motivated by his frustration at the lack of South Korean support in his aggression against Iran.
"Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, I am not satisfied with the fact that the United States has long ago agreed to participate in joint military exercises with South Korea. These exercises are not only expensive, since much of those costs are borne by the United States of America (as usual!), but they also send a totally inappropriate and hostile signal to a country that, since Donald J. Trump is president, has not posed a threat and has been respectful," the president said on the Truth network.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises began this Monday and will last until August 27, with the presence of some 18,000 soldiers, both from the regular army of the Republic of Korea and from US troops stationed on the Korean Peninsula since the end of World War II. However, the South Korean agency Yonhap had already announced that 14 battalions would participate in this edition instead of last year's 17, due to Seoul's desire to ingratiate itself with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of Defense, in fact, has confirmed that the joint exercises will take place as planned.
This Saturday, August 15, precisely, the two Koreas celebrated the 81st anniversary of the end of the Japanese yoke with their respective Liberation Day. A day earlier, the official agency of the Democratic Republic of Korea attacked the upcoming biannual US maneuvers in southern Korea with unusual harshness. In Pyongyang's opinion, this new edition of the summer exercises (there are others every spring) represent a qualitative leap, as they are aimed at a real offensive against the communist north.
South Korea, like many US allies, has refused to get involved in the US-Israel war against Iran, which began with airstrikes on February 28. In his post, Trump stated that “although it may not have much to do with it,” he recently asked the president of South Korea if he wanted to join the United States in denuclearizing the Islamic Republic of Iran, to which, according to him, he responded: “No, thank you.”
Although the United States and South Korea have been conducting joint military exercises for decades, these were reduced during Trump's first term, when he negotiated directly with Kim Jong Un, in Singapore, Hanoi and in the Demilitarized Zone between "the two Koreas."
The cornerstone of the current disagreement with Seoul could be the willingness of the current social democratic government to regain command of the joint forces in the event of a war. For decades, that role has been reserved for an American officer (currently four-star General Xavier T. Brunson, commander of US Forces Korea). Since taking office, the aforementioned Brunson is doing everything possible to stop any change, referring to Korea's strategic value as “a dagger in the heart of Asia” and also as “a fixed aircraft carrier between China and Japan.”
Donald Trump is not only sensitive to the considerations of the Pentagon, but also to those of the evangelical churches, which constitute one of his main breadbaskets at home and which in South Korea mobilized in favor of the deposed president Yoon Suk Yeol, condemned for his imposition of martial law. Thus, for some fervently anti-communist pastors, current President Lee Jae Myung is nothing short of the antichrist. The most vocal is Pastor Son Hyu Bo, who was sentenced to five months in prison for dictating the vote of the faithful of his church and who ten days ago was received by Trump in the Oval Office.
Additionally, the US president's announcement increases pressure on ongoing trade negotiations with South Korea. In exchange for an increase in tariffs below the initially announced order, Trump negotiated with Seoul - as well as with Tokyo - the obligation for several South Korean - and Japanese - multinationals to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in strategic projects on US soil.
On the other hand, North Korea expressed its displeasure last Wednesday with the upcoming US maneuvers with the launch of a missile over the Sea of Japan. His list of grievances now includes the Pentagon's apparent plan, leaked this month by NBC, to review US nuclear doctrine. In this way, Washington would open the door to the use of short-range tactical nuclear weapons - offloading the risk to its Asian allies - while keeping the strategic nuclear weapons deployed in its own territory in the background. When the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Elbridge Colby, currently on tour in Asia, was questioned about it, far from denying it, he said that it is something that is being evaluated.
At the same time, Japan's right-wing Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has hinted in recent months that Tokyo could reverse its historic ban on the deployment of US nuclear weapons on its territory. A possibility that he refused to rule out during his recent visit to Hiroshima. On the other hand, last Saturday, he finally chose not to go to the militarist sanctuary of Yasukuni, so as not to further deteriorate relations with China and Korea, unlike what he used to do before taking office.
In South Korea, nuclearization is also no longer taboo. However, current President Lee Jae Myung prioritizes thawing with his northern countrymen, unlike his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, currently imprisoned for his 2024 coup attempt.
Finally, it should be said that there is no data to corroborate the supposed good relationship that Donald Trump claims to have with Kim Jong Un. In reality, there seems to be no relationship of any kind. Without forgetting that the three symbolic meetings they held during Trump's first term did not yield any visible results.
Of course, staging a restoration of ties would at least serve to take away one of the many assets of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who could return Trump's official visit this year to Beijing, making it coincide with the UN general assembly in New York, at the end of September. However, nothing is confirmed, among other things, because the Chinese envoys - according to some leaks - are overwhelmed by the disorganization in the current White House.
