Trump Wants to Be Friends with Kim – but South Korea Could Pay the Price
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Image source: Reuters
Image caption: Trump and Kim met at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in 2019
By Jake Kwon, Seoul correspondent
Published 1 hour ago
South Korea’s annual military exercises with the US come to an abrupt end on Friday.
Ulchi Freedom Shield, which involves 18,000 South Korean troops and 11 other American ally nations, is being halted with only half of the scheduled programme complete – days after US President Donald Trump announced he had ordered the Pentagon to "substantially reduce" the drill.
This revelation by Trump, who called the exercise "inappropriate and hostile" towards North Korea and costly to the US, caught his allies by surprise.
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The US-South Korea alliance
Seoul considers the annual exercises core to the alliance and a demonstration of US commitment to defend it against Pyongyang.
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