Forget all the talk about denuclearization on the Korean peninsula following the Trump-Kim Summit in Singapore, the biggest news for me is President Trump announcing the stopping of joint military exercises:
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in Singapore on June 12, 2018, in this photo captured from the website of The Straits Times. (Yonhap)
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will stop “provocative and expensive” war games with South Korea in a surprise reference to the joint military exercises Pyongyang has criticized as a rehearsal of invasion.
Trump made the remarks during a press conference that followed his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the Singaporean resort island of Sentosa.
“War games are very expensive,” he said, raising the issue of their cost.
“I think it is very provocative … You have a country that is right next door,” he added, referring to the communist state. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but President Moon has previously said that UFG would be scaled down and now President Trump has used to word stopped. I guess we will see what this all means, but for now it is pretty clear that the August UFG exercise will not happen the way it is normally executed.
If the joint exercises are stopped this is a big win for President Moon. His left wing base does not support the exercises while the political opposition conservative party does. So Moon’s base gets what it wants, for now and Moon can tell his political opposition that he was not the one that cancelled the joint exercises, President Trump did.
These joint exercise are important for USFK due to the high change over in personnel on the peninsula which these exercises help to keep personnel trained with their ROK military counterparts. However, just like everything that North Korea has committed to cancelling joint exercises are easily reversible from the US perspective. I don’t see President Trump committing to something non-reversible like troop withdrawals from the peninsula until the Kim regime does something non-reversible such as removing nuclear material to a third country for disposal.
It should continue to be an interesting year to see how this all plays out.
Good grief, what a moron. The last person he talks to is the only one he can remember to please, In this case, that’s KJU. The fact that he’s screwing over yet another ally probably makes him happier. Hoe anyone can support, let alone vote for, the fool is shocking.
Ole Tanker
6 years ago
No big deal. Rotational units have cohesion, experience, and continuity. A large # of them have served in Korea already. They know the lay of the land.
setnaffa
6 years ago
Johnhenry would be saying exactly yhe same thing no matter what Trump said or did.
That’s the problem with those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. They react negatively to everything he does. Remember we were sll going to die because Trump 1. Pulled out of the Paris Agreement, 2. Cut Taxes (including the Obamacare Mandate), 3. Pulled out of the TPP, 4. Bombed Syria, 4. Pulled out of the Iran Deal, and God knows qhat else.
When a person has such sharply negative reactions to everything both good qnd bad done by a politician, including Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Roh, Lee, Park, and Moon, their opinion is suspect
So-called “Trump followers” are not as monolithic in their thinking as portrayed. Many have multiple college degrees, have travelled extensively outside the US–and not just with the military, and have never owned dog-whistles nor tiki torches.
We don’t know what the next few months will hold for Trump and KJU. Those who claim to see the future should remember what used to happen to prophets who guessed wrong: they were thrown from tall buildings or cliffs and stoned to death.
None of us should be too eager to assume facts not yeet in evidence.
setnaffa
6 years ago
And I should wear my glasses when posting from my cellphone.
Flyingsword
6 years ago
This is fine as long as if (when) nK reneges on the deal the exercises come back immediately and twice as big. The problem with the ’94 agreement is the alliance gave up Team Spirit and didn’t immediately bring it back when nK failed to meet its obligations.
And John Henry, you’re one of those Trump could literally cure cancer and you would bitch about it.
Denny
6 years ago
Imagine if Obama had met Kim, Republicans would be furious.
setnaffa
6 years ago
Denny, While I can’t speak for Republicans, I think non-Democrats would only have been mad at Obama for bowing and paying out billions of dollars to assist with Kim’s nuke and missile programs while apologizing for the US interrupting Kim Il Sung’s attempt to unify Korea over Rhee Syngman’s dead body…
n2guns
6 years ago
Too bad they didn’t cancel the exercise (Team Spirit) in 85, 86, 87, 90, 91 and 92 🙂
Individually, we didn’t “learn” any more than any during any regular exercise.
Rascal1212
6 years ago
Two liars walked into a room.
Observer
6 years ago
I think Trump knew Moon was going to cancel them first. Looks much better this way and the US got a bit for it anyway.
J6Junkie
6 years ago
Doesn’t mean we still can’t park a strategic asset or two in a Korean port. Or, do a freedom of navigation journey.
ChickenHead
6 years ago
Setnaffa,
Trump Derangement Syndrome is real and debilitating for those who have it.
Trump just sent up a trial balloon to see what the public would think of federally legalized marijuana.
There was no outcry or opposition… so it is coming.
Trump Derangement Syndrome insures the streets will be filled with stinkin’ liberal hippies and social justice snowflakes screaming that Trump’s drug policy is racist and sexist and against Muslims and undocumented immigrants.
U.S. President Donald Trump, arriving back in the United States on Wednesday after his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Pyongyang no longer posed a nuclear threat.
“Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
North Korea also was no longer the United States’ “biggest and most dangerous problem,” he added. (Reporting by Susan Heavey Editing by Catherine Evans)
That’s the whole article, although there may be more info under the pic.
When Kim loads his missiles onto a boat and they steam away for storage next to Quadaffi’s WMDs, then North Korea is no longer a Nuclear Threat.
“The Clintons send their regards.”
~G.R.R. Martin, The Game of Thrones.
setnaffa
6 years ago
Ch, you’re right. Many here at ROKdrop seem to have been screaming at the sky since November 2016. We can only hope they get the help they so desperately need….
One wonders how they are able to function in a world turned upside down…
@Ole Tanker, UFG and Key Resolve involve much more than just the rotational 2ID brigade. Many stateside units send personal to the peninsula for these exercises to train their roles if a contingency was to happen. Additionally the staff across the USFK, 8th Army, 7th AF, etc. all get to train integrating these units and personnel from off the peninsula.
When President Trump talked about saving money that is what he is referring to that all the personnel and units off pen that come to these exercises do not have to come now.
As far as cancelling one exercise I don’t think it will make that much of an impact on readiness, but if this becomes a long term thing I think there will be an impact.
Depending on cost sharing negotiations with the ROK I am even wondering what USFK’s role long term will be considering how adamant the President has been about the ROK’s paying more and if they don’t troop cuts could happen.
The next year should be quite interesting to see how this all plays out.
@Denny, I think Obama would have received glowing media coverage if he met with Kim. Do you think Jim Acosta would be rudely yelling things at Obama? Whatever the Republicans say would be drowned out by the glowing media coverage.
As far as Republican reaction that would depend on how the meeting came about. If Obama is going into a summit groveling to Kim and offering billions in aid for little to nothing in return, I think Republicans would go nuts over that.
If Obama went into a summit like Trump did after a strong military show of force and tough sanctions then the criticism would be more like what you see Democrats saying today about Trump.
a listener
6 years ago
@GIKorea, whether or not Obama would have received glowing media attention aside, he would NOT be jumping the gun and boasting about how North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat after one 45 min meeting. That is the problem I and many Americans have with President Trump, he just cannot stop self fellatio on a daily bases. There is ZERO evidence that the North Korean nuclear threat is no longer valid, and it is reckless and irresponsible to assume that as a sitting president.
Ole Tanker
6 years ago
As long as we keep NEO exercises going, everything will be ok.
1sgtret
6 years ago
Okay, we stop our exercises, pull ALL of our troops back to Camp H, re-deploy all of our war birds to Japan, Guam, Hawaii, etc. In short the USFK leaves the Penn and the ROK have war time control of their forces (also, peacetime, of course,) We got to ask ourselves what has Mr. Kim done about his arty up north? %70+ of his arty is deployed just north of the DMZ with damn near %100 of his long range arty their also. How will the talks affect the number of inf div along the DMZ? Watch the number of mech road marches to the DMZ increase (preparation for what?), I would say that Mr. Trump should state, “mission complete” and retire from public life before any more damage is done to us and our allies.
setnaffa
6 years ago
None of Trump’s critics voted for hi, so they all look and sound like this:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out an ambitious timeline for the North’s denuclearization, saying the administration wants the communist state to take major steps toward nuclear disarmament in the next two and a half years.
J6Junkie
6 years ago
2.5 years it won’t matter since the ROK army will be usurped by the Commie Confederacy and exercises wont be necessary.
johnnyboy
6 years ago
Maybe we can wait and see what happens.
In fact, that’s pretty much all we can do.
I have been thinking over this past week about the difference between Trump meeting with Kim in attempts to potentially normalize relations and Obama doing the same with Cuba or his Iran deal.
The main difference in my mind is that the US has a great interest in reducing the threat of nuclear aggression from North Korea and there isn’t anyone else stepping up to the challenge. Cuba is no great threat at this point and –correct me if I’m wrong– has nothing the US would benefit greatly from by pursuing normal economic relations. Not to say Trump won’t end up dealing with the Castro-ites in the future. As for Iran, we did the heavy lifting and gave up the most, when there was a potential alliance of middle eastern nations willing to counter Iran and spend their resources on the matter.
For a lot of people it probably comes down to who you trust in the White House.
I think the Iran deal was a bad deal. The inspection concessions made and the secret cash transfer look like we got the shit end of the stick. Probably the biggest thing is I didn’t trust that President Obama or his team were negotiating with the US’s best interest in mind as I feel they approached nearly every major issue during his administration.
When Trump makes concessions with North Korea, I trust that he does have our best interests at heart and we will end up with a better outcome than we did with Iran, as it seems they have approached most issues they have tackled since he took office.
Good grief, what a moron. The last person he talks to is the only one he can remember to please, In this case, that’s KJU. The fact that he’s screwing over yet another ally probably makes him happier. Hoe anyone can support, let alone vote for, the fool is shocking.
No big deal. Rotational units have cohesion, experience, and continuity. A large # of them have served in Korea already. They know the lay of the land.
Johnhenry would be saying exactly yhe same thing no matter what Trump said or did.
That’s the problem with those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. They react negatively to everything he does. Remember we were sll going to die because Trump 1. Pulled out of the Paris Agreement, 2. Cut Taxes (including the Obamacare Mandate), 3. Pulled out of the TPP, 4. Bombed Syria, 4. Pulled out of the Iran Deal, and God knows qhat else.
When a person has such sharply negative reactions to everything both good qnd bad done by a politician, including Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Roh, Lee, Park, and Moon, their opinion is suspect
So-called “Trump followers” are not as monolithic in their thinking as portrayed. Many have multiple college degrees, have travelled extensively outside the US–and not just with the military, and have never owned dog-whistles nor tiki torches.
We don’t know what the next few months will hold for Trump and KJU. Those who claim to see the future should remember what used to happen to prophets who guessed wrong: they were thrown from tall buildings or cliffs and stoned to death.
None of us should be too eager to assume facts not yeet in evidence.
And I should wear my glasses when posting from my cellphone.
This is fine as long as if (when) nK reneges on the deal the exercises come back immediately and twice as big. The problem with the ’94 agreement is the alliance gave up Team Spirit and didn’t immediately bring it back when nK failed to meet its obligations.
And John Henry, you’re one of those Trump could literally cure cancer and you would bitch about it.
Imagine if Obama had met Kim, Republicans would be furious.
Denny, While I can’t speak for Republicans, I think non-Democrats would only have been mad at Obama for bowing and paying out billions of dollars to assist with Kim’s nuke and missile programs while apologizing for the US interrupting Kim Il Sung’s attempt to unify Korea over Rhee Syngman’s dead body…
Too bad they didn’t cancel the exercise (Team Spirit) in 85, 86, 87, 90, 91 and 92 🙂
Individually, we didn’t “learn” any more than any during any regular exercise.
Two liars walked into a room.
I think Trump knew Moon was going to cancel them first. Looks much better this way and the US got a bit for it anyway.
Doesn’t mean we still can’t park a strategic asset or two in a Korean port. Or, do a freedom of navigation journey.
Setnaffa,
Trump Derangement Syndrome is real and debilitating for those who have it.
Trump just sent up a trial balloon to see what the public would think of federally legalized marijuana.
There was no outcry or opposition… so it is coming.
Trump Derangement Syndrome insures the streets will be filled with stinkin’ liberal hippies and social justice snowflakes screaming that Trump’s drug policy is racist and sexist and against Muslims and undocumented immigrants.
Um, were Kim’s bombs and missiles in Air Force One’s cargo hold? No? Then the threat is still there.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-says-north-korea-no-longer-a-nuclear-threat/
That’s the whole article, although there may be more info under the pic.
When Kim loads his missiles onto a boat and they steam away for storage next to Quadaffi’s WMDs, then North Korea is no longer a Nuclear Threat.
“The Clintons send their regards.”
~G.R.R. Martin, The Game of Thrones.
Ch, you’re right. Many here at ROKdrop seem to have been screaming at the sky since November 2016. We can only hope they get the help they so desperately need….
One wonders how they are able to function in a world turned upside down…
@Ole Tanker, UFG and Key Resolve involve much more than just the rotational 2ID brigade. Many stateside units send personal to the peninsula for these exercises to train their roles if a contingency was to happen. Additionally the staff across the USFK, 8th Army, 7th AF, etc. all get to train integrating these units and personnel from off the peninsula.
When President Trump talked about saving money that is what he is referring to that all the personnel and units off pen that come to these exercises do not have to come now.
As far as cancelling one exercise I don’t think it will make that much of an impact on readiness, but if this becomes a long term thing I think there will be an impact.
Depending on cost sharing negotiations with the ROK I am even wondering what USFK’s role long term will be considering how adamant the President has been about the ROK’s paying more and if they don’t troop cuts could happen.
The next year should be quite interesting to see how this all plays out.
@Denny, I think Obama would have received glowing media coverage if he met with Kim. Do you think Jim Acosta would be rudely yelling things at Obama? Whatever the Republicans say would be drowned out by the glowing media coverage.
As far as Republican reaction that would depend on how the meeting came about. If Obama is going into a summit groveling to Kim and offering billions in aid for little to nothing in return, I think Republicans would go nuts over that.
If Obama went into a summit like Trump did after a strong military show of force and tough sanctions then the criticism would be more like what you see Democrats saying today about Trump.
@GIKorea, whether or not Obama would have received glowing media attention aside, he would NOT be jumping the gun and boasting about how North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat after one 45 min meeting. That is the problem I and many Americans have with President Trump, he just cannot stop self fellatio on a daily bases. There is ZERO evidence that the North Korean nuclear threat is no longer valid, and it is reckless and irresponsible to assume that as a sitting president.
As long as we keep NEO exercises going, everything will be ok.
Okay, we stop our exercises, pull ALL of our troops back to Camp H, re-deploy all of our war birds to Japan, Guam, Hawaii, etc. In short the USFK leaves the Penn and the ROK have war time control of their forces (also, peacetime, of course,) We got to ask ourselves what has Mr. Kim done about his arty up north? %70+ of his arty is deployed just north of the DMZ with damn near %100 of his long range arty their also. How will the talks affect the number of inf div along the DMZ? Watch the number of mech road marches to the DMZ increase (preparation for what?), I would say that Mr. Trump should state, “mission complete” and retire from public life before any more damage is done to us and our allies.
None of Trump’s critics voted for hi, so they all look and sound like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dclMwKi0gr8
I guess President Trump can explain it to us but can’t make us understand it.
TWO LIERS WALKED INTO A ROOM.
So what timeframe can we expect before we know if exercises will resume?
Maybe two and half years? 😮
2.5 years it won’t matter since the ROK army will be usurped by the Commie Confederacy and exercises wont be necessary.
Maybe we can wait and see what happens.
In fact, that’s pretty much all we can do.
I have been thinking over this past week about the difference between Trump meeting with Kim in attempts to potentially normalize relations and Obama doing the same with Cuba or his Iran deal.
The main difference in my mind is that the US has a great interest in reducing the threat of nuclear aggression from North Korea and there isn’t anyone else stepping up to the challenge. Cuba is no great threat at this point and –correct me if I’m wrong– has nothing the US would benefit greatly from by pursuing normal economic relations. Not to say Trump won’t end up dealing with the Castro-ites in the future. As for Iran, we did the heavy lifting and gave up the most, when there was a potential alliance of middle eastern nations willing to counter Iran and spend their resources on the matter.
For a lot of people it probably comes down to who you trust in the White House.
I think the Iran deal was a bad deal. The inspection concessions made and the secret cash transfer look like we got the shit end of the stick. Probably the biggest thing is I didn’t trust that President Obama or his team were negotiating with the US’s best interest in mind as I feel they approached nearly every major issue during his administration.
When Trump makes concessions with North Korea, I trust that he does have our best interests at heart and we will end up with a better outcome than we did with Iran, as it seems they have approached most issues they have tackled since he took office.