President Trump cast new doubt Wednesday on the future of U.S.-South Korea military exercises, which were suspended earlier this year to smooth the way for now-stalled denuclearization talks with North Korea.
Mr. Trump said in a Twitter message Wednesday that “there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games.”
“Besides, the president can instantly start the joint exercises again with South Korea, and Japan, if he so chooses,” he said. “If he does, they will be far bigger than ever before.” The post, written in the third person, was titled “Statement From the White House.”
A day earlier, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S. doesn’t plan to suspend any further military exercises with South Korea. But he also said no decision had yet been made on conducting another large set of maneuvers next year.
“We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit,” Mr. Mattis said, referring to the June meeting between Mr. Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. “We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises.”
U.S. military officials consider the exercises important to South Korean security and to the military alliance between the two nations.
However, Mr. Trump, ever since the Singapore talks, has embraced Mr. Kim’s longstanding description of them as “provocative.”
Mr. Trump also has complained about the costs of the exercises, although a July Defense Department assessment determined that the largest of the suspended exercises, Freedom Guardian, cost $14 million—less than the cost of a fighter plane.
Large military exercises take months of planning, involving the movement and coordination of thousands of troops from multiple countries. Freedom Guardian, for example, consists of more than 50,000 troops.
In addition to Freedom Guardian, the U.S. suspended two smaller exercises known as Korea-Marine exchange programs.
Mr. Trump in the series of tweets also blamed China’s trade disputes with the U.S. and its financial aid to North Korea for the administration’s now stalled denuclearization talks with the North.
“This is not helpful!” Mr. Trump wrote. Still, he said he has a “very good and warm” relationship with Mr. Kim and wrote that his “bond” with Chinese President Xi Jinping would resolve trade issues “in time.”
Beijing has pledged to respond to the administration’s plans for tariffs on an additional $200 billion in Chinese imports, and Chinese media has urged the public to prepare for a protracted trade war with the U.S.
Last week, also in a tweet, the president abruptly canceled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s scheduled trip North Korea, citing the lack of progress on the issue of denuclearization.
Mr. Pompeo had planned to bring the newly named special representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, with him on the trip to Pyongyang.
Appeared in the August 30, 2018, print edition as 'Trump Shrugs Off U.S.-Korea War Games.'