Trump explains reduced joint drills with South Korea
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President Trump said he was turned off by South Korea not agreeing to help the U.S. denuclearize Iran, spurring him to reduce the joint military exercises.
Trump said he recently spoke on the phone with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and asked if he would give the U.S. “a little hand” 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,’” Trump said in the Oval Office.
Trump recounted that the South Korean leader said his country would rather not get involved in the Iran war.
The president said he had gotten South Korea to pay billions of dollars to the U.S. for protection, but that the Biden administration rescinded the order.
The Biden administration signed its own cost-sharing deals with South Korea.
“We would have been getting paid a lot more,” Trump said. “But we can’t go around and protect all of these countries , especially when they’re not there to help us.”
Trump said Sunday that he directed the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the joint military exercises. Known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, they began Monday and are expected to run until Aug. 27.
Some lawmakers have already spoken out against the move to reduce the exercises, calling them shortsighted and saying it goes against a longtime ally.
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