President Donald Trump announced on August 18 that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un responded positively to his outreach for renewed dialogue, setting the stage for what could become the fourth face-to-face meeting between the two leaders. No date, location, or agenda has been disclosed.
Trump described Kim’s response as “very positive,” though no concrete commitments from Pyongyang accompanied the announcement. Trump also ordered a “substantial reduction” in joint US-South Korea military exercises, calling them an inappropriate provocation toward North Korea.
The goodwill gesture and its cost
Trump cited South Korea’s lack of support on other military endeavors as part of his reasoning for scaling back the exercises, folding the reduction into a broader grievance about allied burden-sharing.
Joint exercises between the US and South Korea have historically served as both a deterrence signal to Pyongyang and a readiness mechanism for the roughly 28,500 American troops stationed on the peninsula.
