US-SoKor-Japan cooperation ‘critical’ for region’s stability
Seoul, SOUTH KOREA—Japan underlined on Tuesday that security cooperation with the United States and South Korea was “critical” for the region’s stability, after President Donald Trump alarmed allies by scaling back military drills with Seoul while hailing his ties with Pyongyang.
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi strongly supported joint security cooperation with key defense backer Washington and neighbor Seoul.
“As Japan faces the most severe and complicated security environment in the postwar era, the cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea is critical to the peace and stability of the region,” Koizumi told journalists during a visit to Australia.
His Australian counterpart Richard Marles said Canberra was “very concerned about North Korea’s nuclear program as well as its missile program, and we have consistently made that point.”
Trump’s decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea does not just slight a longtime ally but raises broader concerns about the security interests of the United States in Asia and elsewhere.
‘Makes no sense’
Trump explained his decision by citing South Korea’s refusal to join his war against Iran and pointing to what he said was his good relationship with North Korea’s reclusive dictator, a transactional and personal approach to foreign policy that has defined the Republican’s presidency.
“There is no American interest that I can see in this,” said Dan Fried, an assistant secretary of state for European affairs in the George W. Bush administration. “On all levels, it makes no sense. It undermines the South Koreans, undermines the Japanese, frightens the Taiwanese, unnerves Nato and emboldens the Chinese, not to mention the North Koreans.”
Danny Russel, former assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific in the Obama administration, said Trump’s decision to side with North Korea, which strongly objects to the annual joint military exercises, is “firmly in the ‘hard-to-see-how-it-could-be-worse’ category.”
“It is tragically upside-down. Trump is punishing an ally while encouraging an adversary,” said Russel, now a scholar at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York. “He is protecting Kim Jong Un’s sensitive feelings from an unfriendly signal at the expense of US-South Korean security.”
Kim’s positive response
Trump on Sunday ordered the US military to downsize the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, which began on Monday as scheduled. It wasn’t known which parts of the training were being scaled back.
Trump on Monday doubled down, posting a photo of North Korea’s leader speaking on a phone. The caption read: “HEY DONALD … WE COOL, RIGHT?”
When asked why the North Korean leader had not responded to the US president’s olive branch, Trump responded, “He has.”
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump added that Kim “has always treated me with great respect.”
“We met on numerous occasions, actually, two primary occasions, spoken and spent time. I understand him. He understands me,” he said.
During his first presidency, Trump met with Kim three times, with the initial Singapore summit followed by meetings in 2019 in Vietnam and at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjeom.
Seoul hopeful on peace
On the other hand, South Korea on Monday expressed hope that the “amicable” relationship between Washington and Pyongyang would pave the way for substantial dialogue.
The South Korean government is paying “close attention” to Trump’s message, the presidential office said, adding that it “hopes that the amicable relationship between the North Korean and US leaders will lead to meaningful North Korea-US dialogue, thereby opening discussions to advance peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”
“To that end, the government will make the necessary diplomatic efforts as a peacemaker, in close coordination with the United States,” the office also said.
Regarding Trump’s claim that South Korean President Lee Jae-myung declined a US request to work together on denuclearizing Iran, the office said the country has “actively taken part in international discussions on a ceasefire in Iran and the restoration of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
