Kelly, Tillis urge Trump to reverse reduction to joint military exercises with South Korea
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Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are urging President Trump to reverse his decision to order a reduction of joint military exercises with South Korea, citing the need to preserve the alliance between the two countries.
“Joint exercises such as Ulchi Freedom Shield provide U.S. and ROK forces critical opportunities to practice command and control, combined operations, logistics, and responses to evolving threats. Reducing these exercises risks degrading interoperability and readiness while sending the wrong signal to North Korea and our adversaries,” Kelly and Tillis wrote in a 2-page letter to Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The duo also wrote that they are concerned that reducing the training that would deter North Korean “aggression” could provide Pyongyang “ greater freedom ” to utilize its military resources elsewhere, including its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Decisions about U.S. force posture and training must be driven by military requirements and the security of the United States and our allies, not political retaliation,” the senators wrote. “ Our allies should not be punished for declining to support unilateral U.S. military actions in the Middle East, particularly when such shortsighted measures undermine American military readiness.”
The president announced the reduction on Sunday in a post on Truth Social , arguing they are hostile toward North Korea and highlighted his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong Un.
Trump also slammed South Korea for not helping the U.S. in its war against Iran.
When reached for comment on Tuesday, the White House pointed The Hill to the president’s comments from Monday during which he said he spoke recently with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung about aiding the U.S. in its conflict with Iran.
“I called him. I said, ‘Would you like to give us a little hand? We don’t need help with Iran, but if you’d like, give us a hand with Iran.’ He said, ‘ No thanks ,’ and I said, ‘Wait a minute. We have 39,000 soldiers over there, guarding you from Kim Jong Un, your next-door neighbor, and you’re not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran. That’s strange,’” the president said Monday in the Oval Office.
Hegseth’s office did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
The war games are an instrumental part of the mutual defense treaty between the U.S. and South Korea, envisioned to shield Seoul from possible North Korean aggression.
Trump has criticized the joint exercises in the past. Back in 2018, he said he would suspend the drills after meeting Kim. “Diplomacy and deterrence are not mutually exclusive. We support a credible diplomatic strategy toward North Korea, but diplomacy is strengthened, not weakened, when it is backed by a capable, ready U.S.-ROK alliance,” Tillis and Kelly, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Commitee, said in the letter.
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