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North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun printed images of its leader Kim Jong-un shaking hands with US National Security Adviser John Bolton at the North Korea-US summit in Singapore in its June 13 edition. (Yonhap News)
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Move would be first measure in removing US threat felt by North Korea
It turns out that US President Donald Trump’s remarks about halting South Korea-US joint military exercises were discussed and agreed upon during the North Korea-US summit on June 12. Since halting these exercises would be the first measure by the US to remove the threat felt by North Korea, there is growing interest about what role this will play in the process of building peace on the Korean Peninsula. On June 13, North Korean state-run newspaper the Rodong Sinmun reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said during his summit with Trump the day before that the first decision that must be made is halting military actions that provoke and antagonize each other. Trump responded by expressing his understanding and by promising to suspend South Korea-US joint military exercises, which the North Koreans regard as a provocation, so long as good-faith dialogue between North Korea and the US continues, the Rodong Sinmun said. The Rodong Sinmun report provides context for Trump’s announcement about halting military exercises, which came during a press conference on June 12: “Under the circumstances that we are negotiating a very comprehensive, complete deal, I think it’s inappropriate to be having war games.” This suggests that Kim made the request and that Trump accepted it. But during an interview with ABC on June 13, Trump said that he had been the one to propose the halt: “One of the things that I suggested and I want to do is [. . .] stop the war games.” The large-scale South Korea-US military exercises that are currently held on a yearly basis are Key Resolve, Foal Eagle and Ulchi-Freedom Guardian. If the exercises are actually halted, the first to be affected will likely be the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercises, which are scheduled for August. The Team Spirit exercises were not held in 1992 in order to set the mood for dialogue at the time. Trump did place a condition on halting the exercises – the negotiations must be ongoing – suggesting that he intends to use the possibility of holding the exercises as leverage during ongoing negotiations with the North. Trump consulted Mattis in advance of remarks The US Defense Department announced that Trump’s remarks about halting the joint military exercises had been coordinated in advance. Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana White said that Trump had discussed his planned remarks with US Defense Secretary James Mattis, Reuters reported. Continuation of “regular” joint exercises Despite Trump’s announcement of halting war games, the US is planning to continue South Korea-US joint exercises that are “regular,” rather than large-scale, the Wall Street Journal reported on June 12, quoting an anonymous official at the White House. The journal said that, after Trump made his remarks about ending war games during the press conference following his summit with Kim in Singapore, US Vice President Mike Pence spent the rest of the day meeting Republican Party lawmakers in Washington who wanted to know the meaning of the remarks. Cory Gardner, Chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy under the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, wrote on Twitter that Pence had told him that “regular readiness training and training exchanges will continue.” The Wall Street Journal quoted the White House official as saying that Pence had told members of Congress asking about military readiness that the two war games held each year would be suspended while relations with North Korea are improving but that regular readiness training would continue. The two war games that Pence mentioned are presumed to be large-scale military exercises. The newspaper identified Foal Eagle, Max Thunder and Eulchi-Freedom Guardian as large-scale South Korea-US military exercises. South Korea has not been consulted on issue The South Korean government does not appear to have been consulted in advance. Even on June 13, a day after Trump said that war games would be halted, government spokespeople would only say they “need to determine the exact intent and meaning of the remarks” and dodged questions about whether there had been advance deliberation between the two sides by saying “there is no information to report.” In the past, the US has made unilateral decisions about key matters affecting its alliance with South Korea – including reducing its number of troops stationed there – without first consulting with Seoul. If there was in fact no preliminary deliberation of Trump’s remarks, it could lead to concerns that the two allies’ trust is being eroded. Seoul is planning to discuss countermeasures after making contact with American officials to determine Trump’s true intentions. “President Moon Jae-in will be presiding over a meeting of the National Security Council on June 14 to assess the results of the North Korea-US summit and to discuss follow-up measures,” said a senior official at the Blue House. But the government is not likely to protest the decision to halt the joint military exercises. In fact, it has previously discussed the issue of reducing joint military exercises with the US. During the Shangri-La Dialogue (Asia Security Summit), which was held in Singapore about ten days before Trump and Kim’s summit, South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo met with US Defense Secretary James Mattis. Following their meeting, Song said that he and Mattis had “agreed that South Korea-US joint military exercises would be kept low-key in the future.” But working-level officials at the Defense Ministry explained the remark at the time as meaning that “we will hold the exercises as planned but refrain from promoting them or releasing information to the press.” There has also been criticism within the US that the decision to halt the military exercises is an “excessive concession.” Former Defense Secretary William Cohen acknowledged the steep financial cost of the South Korea-US joint military exercises but pointed out that losing a war would entail an even greater cost. The Wall Street Journal reported that there was also confusion inside the Pentagon about the scope of the suspension of military exercises that Trump had announced. One official expressed uncertainty whether small-scale exercises would be halted, too, while another official stated that small-scale exercises would obviously continue. By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer, and Lee Bon-yeong and Kim Bo-hyeop, staff reporters Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
