【Trump Reveals Behind-the-Scenes Negotiations with South Korean President】Yesterday, Trump instructed: "Significantly reduce" the U.S. military's participation in joint military exercises with South Korea, arguing that these drills are "completely inappropriate and hostile" toward South Korea's neighbors.
Today, he revealed to the media how he negotiated with Seoul: "I recently called the South Korean president and said, 'Would you do us a small favor? We don't actually need your help on Iran, but if you're willing, just lend a hand.' He replied, 'No, thank you.'"
Trump was unimpressed: "What do you mean? We have 39,000 soldiers there protecting you, and you won’t even help us with one very simple military operation regarding Iran? That’s absurd. Then we’d rather not get involved (in the exercises). Why should we help you? Defending South Korea is already costing us billions of dollars."
In fact, ever since his first term, Trump has consistently criticized the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises, frequently complaining about their high cost. The resumption of these joint exercises was actually one of the factors contributing to the collapse of the Trump-Kim diplomacy in 2019.
Now, by scaling back and adjusting the size of the joint exercises—minimizing their offensive and provocative nature to make them more purely defensive in character—this move theoretically sends a de-escalation signal toward North Korea. However, reducing scale and outright canceling exercises are not the same thing.
Trump’s unilateral announcement carries significant backlash.
By making sudden, arbitrary, and dramatic changes without prior coordination, Trump’s approach first intensifies distrust between South Korea and the United States.
Originally, if the U.S. action had improved inter-Korean relations, Seoul might have supported or at least accepted it.
Now, Trump’s unilateral decision will trigger political divisions in South Korea that could have been avoided, prompting swift criticism from conservative opposition parties and media outlets that take a hardline stance toward North Korea.
From this perspective, Trump appears vindictive—his real intent seems to be punishing South Korea for not helping him on Iran, rather than pursuing any genuine diplomatic objective toward the North.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1873802746751047/
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