Trump Yields to Kim’s Demands as US Scales Back Military Exercises With South Korea

Washington's changing rhetoric and its rejection of traditional formats of cooperation are forcing Seoul to seek fundamentally new ways to ensure its security. Trump Yields to Kim's Demands and Cancels Military Exercises With Seoul US President Donald Trump has ordered a reduction in the number and scale of military exercises with South Korea, which had been a key demand from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for de-escalating the situation on the Korean Peninsula. "These exercises are not only expensive, since the United States of America pays most of the costs (as usual!), but also send a completely inappropriate and hostile signal to a country (North Korea) that, while Donald J. Trump was president, showed no threat and was respectful.”