In a fit of pique, Donald Trump recently scaled back the big annual military exercise between the United States and South Korea. He would have canceled it altogether if the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield training hadn’t already started. The U.S. president cited as the reasons for his action the cost of the exercise and that it was “totally inappropriate and hostile” toward North Korea.
Trump also rationalized his show of disrespect for South Korea—or, at least, for the South Korean military—by complaining that Seoul hadn’t given him enough support for the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. Back in April, at a press conference where he lambasted NATO for not sending warships to help open up the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said, “Who else didn’t help us? South Korea.”
Of course, neither did North Korea. In fact, Pyongyang quickly sided with Tehran after the initial attacks, denouncing the “illegal and reckless act of aggression” and adding that “the growing acts of U.S. hegemony witnessed by the international community are a clear example of its destructive role in undermining world peace and stability and the grave consequences that follow.”
Although accurate, Pyongyang’s statement was not exactly the basis for a warm relationship with an American …read more
Source:: Institute for Policy Studies
