Trump has ordered a major reduction in South Korea-U.S. joint drills and spoken warmly of Kim Jong-un, while Lee Jae Myung praised the move as peace-building. The piece argues that this creates a strategic danger for South Korea because Washington may treat North Korea’s arsenal as something to manage rather than eliminate. It says the Lee government has not publicly objected while calling for self-reliant defense and wartime operational control. The author asks what South Korea’s answer is to North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
Park Jung-won
Washington voiced displeasure; Seoul responded with respect. Few scenes better capture the disconnect in the U.S.-South Korea alliance.
President Donald Trump ordered a major reduction in joint U.S.-South Korea military drills, saying they cost too much and send a hostile signal to North Korea. He made no secret of his displeasure with South Korea for not supporting U.S. military action against Iran. Yet he spoke warmly of Kim Jong-un and said he wanted to meet him this year.
Seoul’s response was unexpected. President Lee Jae Myung praised Trump’s decision as an effort for peace on the Korean Peninsula and expressed his “respect.” Days earlier, Lee had stressed self-reliant defense, citing South Korea’s world-class military and defense industry, while vowing to regain wartime operational control within his term.
