Seoul (AFP) – Annual war games between South Korea and the United States ended on Friday, Seoul’s military told AFP, days earlier than initially planned after US President Donald Trump had abruptly ordered them curtailed. Trump said this week that the drills, which are designed to prepare for a possible attack by North Korea, were “inappropriate and hostile” towards nuclear-armed Pyongyang.
North Korea then fired around 10 short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, while Kim Yo Jong, the leader’s powerful sister, mocked Seoul’s “master-servant” relationship with Washington. The joint drills “have ended” on Friday, a Seoul military official said. The exercises were originally scheduled to last until August 27. Nuclear-armed North Korea has long voiced outrage at the exercises, considering them dress rehearsals for an invasion.
The drills reportedly consist of two phases: the first, focused on defending against potential North Korean threats, was due to run until Friday. The second, focused on a counteroffensive, has been scrapped. The Pentagon has previously said the reduced drills would cause “no degradation to US training objectives”. The United States stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster the country’s defences, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Trump’s sudden focus on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his order to scale back the military drills have alarmed Asian allies, while sparking speculation that he was seeking a foreign policy win as the Iran war stalls. The US president also said recently that it was important to “get along” with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. Seoul says there are around 80-120.
South Korea’s Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back said this week Seoul remained opposed to officially recognising the North as a nuclear-weapon state. Asked whether Washington had “given up” on North Korea’s denuclearisation, Ahn said he did not believe so. Kim Yo Jong said this week her brother Kim Jong Un had “good memories and feelings” about Trump and that the relationship between the two leaders remains “excellent”. The North Korea leader’s sister also dismissed the importance of the war games being reduced, calling the move “completely uninteresting”.
© 2024 AFP
