No Script

Please Wait...

Ramadan Kareem...

Trump Repeats Call to Halt US-South Korea Drills

Trump Repeats Call to Halt US-South Korea Drills
folder_openUnited States access_time5 years ago
starAdd to favorites

Local Editor


Once again, US President Donald Trump called for the military drills with South Korea to be cancelled.

Trump Repeats Call to Halt US-South Korea Drills

"Holding back the 'war games' during the negotiations was my request because they are very expensive and set a bad light during a good faith negotiation," Trump tweeted on Sunday, reaffirming his intention to suspend the annual joint US-South Korean military exercises. He also said the drills are "quite provocative."

At the same time, he pointed out that the war games would only be suspended and not scrapped entirely, giving Washington an opportunity to resume them "immediately if talks [on North Korea's denuclearization] break down." However, he expressed hope that the talks will eventually succeed.

Pyongyang, which also repeatedly slammed the drills as a "provocation," is expected to welcome the move. Trump's plans, however, are viewed much less favorably by the US military and Washington's allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Pentagon is apparently reluctant to support the president's initiative, but is still trying to save face. Following Trump's initial announcement of his plans to suspend the drills, chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told CNN that US Military Secretary James Mattis was "consulted" on the matter and thus was "not surprised" by Trump's announcement. "The secretary is in full alignment with the president to meet his goal which is denuclearization of the peninsula," she said.

Later in the week, the Pentagon also released statements on Mattis' phone conversations with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, which said the Pentagon chief reassured the US' allies that Washington still remains true to its "ironclad" defense commitments and alliance with Seoul and Tokyo.

The US Forces Korea command said that it had not received any "updated guidance on the execution or cessation of training exercises" and would continue its preparation for the drills scheduled to take place in the autumn.

However, according to some media reports, Pentagon officials fear the suspension of exercises could "erode" the combat readiness of the US military contingent in the region. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly urged North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a meeting in early May to call on Washington to suspend military exercises with Seoul, Japanese Asahi Shimbun newspaper said, citing unnamed Chinese diplomatic sources.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

Comments