US President Donald Trump announced plans to scale back military exercises with South Korea, which were characterized as “inappropriate and hostile” and aimed at preparing for potential aggression from North Korea. This decision came just hours before the drills were set to commence on Monday.
“These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful,” he continued. Kyiv recently said that up to 50,000 North Korean troops are due to deploy to Russia, although it has provided no evidence to back the claim or a timeframe for the deployment.
South Korea’s defence ministry said the joint drills had begun and would “proceed as previously notified and scheduled” when asked about Trump’s post. In Sunday’s post, Trump also took aim at South Korea on that count, writing: “I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!'” “The North will only view it as meaningful if the joint exercises are cancelled in their entirety rather than scaled back. It has little reason to see this as meaningful,” he said. Pyongyang has sent troops and munitions for Moscow’s war in exchange for financial support, food, energy and military technology, according to analysts.
