Another courtship of Kim? Trump cancels exercise with South Korea
The large naval exercise planned for next month was cancelled after the Americans announced that the war in Iran is limiting the availability of forces. The decision comes just a week after Trump ordered a significant reduction in another joint exercise, which he called "hostile" toward North Korea and mentioned his good relations with Kim Jong Un.
The United States has cancelled a large naval exercise with South Korea that was scheduled to take place next month, the South Korean Marine Corps announced today, Monday. The official reason this time is a lack of availability of American forces due to the war in Iran. However, the decision comes just a week after US President Donald Trump himself ordered a significant reduction in another joint exercise with Seoul, linking two central issues in his foreign policy: the war in the Middle East and the attempt to reopen the door to Kim Jong Un.
According to the South Korean military, the US Marine Corps had already notified its counterparts in Seoul in June that force availability would be limited for the divisional exercise, which was supposed to take place in September. Both countries continue to discuss the possibility of resuming training in the future. However, the cancellation takes on special political significance following the remarks made by Trump just a week ago. The president announced then that he had ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to "significantly reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea, after saying it was too late to completely cancel the exercise that was already about to begin.
Trump's reasoning
Trump justified his decision primarily by his relationship with the North Korean leader. "Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, I am not happy that the United States agreed a long time ago to participate in joint military exercises with South Korea," he wrote. According to him, the exercises are not only expensive for the United States, but also send an "inappropriate and hostile" message to a country that he claims was "unthreatening and respectful" as long as he serves as president.
Trump also made an unusual connection between the Korean Peninsula and the war in Iran. According to him, he recently asked the President of South Korea if his country would be willing to join the United States in an effort for the "nuclear disarmament of Iran," and received the answer: "No thanks."
The order did not remain at the level of a statement. Another exercise that began the day after Trump's remarks was shortened and ended six days earlier than planned. Some of the joint field training was also reduced. Now comes the full cancellation of another exercise. It is important to emphasize that the official reason pointed to by the militaries is not another order from Trump to appease Pyongyang: the Americans announced the force limitation back in June, and the reason given was the operational requirements of the war in Iran.
However, in terms of the result, the two processes meet: on one hand, the war in Iran is draining American resources and forces from the Far East, and on the other hand, Trump himself seeks to reduce the scope of exercises that he sees as expensive and an unnecessary provocation toward Kim. The US has even moved significant military assets from the region to the Middle East following the war, which increases concerns among its allies in Asia.
This move also returns Trump to the policy that characterized his first term. After the Singapore summit with Kim in 2018, he already suspended large exercises with South Korea, which he then described as expensive and provocative "war games." Now, eight years later, Trump is again emphasizing his personal relationship with Kim and signaling that he is interested in renewing the diplomatic channel with him. However, in the meantime, Pyongyang is not reciprocating the gesture. After the decision to reduce the recent exercises, North Korea launched ten short-range ballistic missiles and continued to condemn the joint training as a "rehearsal for invasion."
Thus, in just over a week, one American-South Korean exercise was significantly shortened and another large exercise was completely cancelled. In the first case, it was an explicit political decision by Trump, intended among other things to reduce tension with Kim; in the second case, the official reason is a shortage of forces due to the war in Iran. Together, they illustrate how two fronts thousands of kilometers apart are beginning to influence each other, and how Trump's war in the Middle East intersects with his attempt to reopen the door to North Korea.
