Berliner Tageblatt - Bipartisan backlash as Trump scales back US-South Korea drills

Trump ordered the Pentagon to downsize what he called "inappropriate and hostile" drills just hours before the exercises were due to begin, citing his "good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

In a post Sunday on Truth Social, Trump also pointed to South Korea's refusal to join the United States in the "denuclearization" of Iran.

"This is another inane, haphazard decision by President Trump and his chaotic administration," said Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"When President Trump cuts military exercises to flatter a dictator or punishes South Korea for declining to join a war he started, all of our allies -- and adversaries -- think that America's commitments are negotiable."

Republican Senator Thom Tillis, an occasional critic of the administration, also condemned the decision.

"South Korea has been a solid military ally for over 70 years that possesses exquisite military capabilities," Tillis wrote on X.

"Reducing joint exercises with South Korea does nothing more than free up thousands of North Korea's troops to support Putin's systematic kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder of innocent Ukrainian citizens."

North Korea has deployed troops to support Russia in its war against Ukraine, deepening a military partnership that has alarmed Washington and its allies.

Reed called Trump's decision a "propaganda victory" for Kim and said it punished South Korea "for no reason beyond Trump's ego."

"China and Russia are watching how easily this president abandons America's allies, and they will remember it the next time they test us," he said.

Washington and Seoul have conducted joint military exercises since the 1950s as a deterrent against North Korean aggression and a signal of allied readiness.

Reed said Trump's decision also contradicted a recent warning from NORTHCOM Deputy Commander Lieutenant General Joseph Jarrard that Pyongyang had successfully flight-tested intercontinental ballistic missiles with "enough boost to deliver a nuclear payload anywhere in North America."

North Korea has not responded to Trump's order, though it has repeatedly denounced the regular joint maneuvers as provocative.

The drills began as US allies in East Asia fret over North Korea's expanding weapons capabilities and its growing alignment with Russia as well as its longtime backer China.

On the House side of Congress, Democrats Pramila Jayapal and Frank Pallone accused Trump of undermining US democracy to curry favor with Kim.

"Trump is truly unhinged if he thinks North Korea -- a rogue state that has sought America's defeat since day one -- is worth appeasing like this," Pallone posted on X.

"Our president seeks validation from dictators and despots, all while casting our allies aside. It's shameful."

M.Furrer--BTB