Trump Complains about Military Exercise Costs
U.S. President Donald Trump said that ROK-U.S. joint military exercises are a complete waste of money.
The president has continued to complain about the costs of the exercises. After the Washington-Pyongyang summit in Singapore in June 2018, the president said he hated the exercises from his first day in office. More recently, he repeated the same complaints, putting pressure on the South Korean government ahead of defense cost sharing negotiations with it.
The president is currently staying in Biarritz, France to attend the G7 summit. He remarked on Aug. 25 (local time) that North Korea’s recent short-range missile launches did not violate his agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the North is not the only country testing such missiles, and he received a very excellent letter from the North Korean leader last week.
In the meantime, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus re-expressed disappointments and concerns over the South Korean government’s decision to terminate the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan. Much attention is being paid to whether the United States will take active follow-up measures in that the competent State Department articulated its concerns over the regional security in and around the Korean Peninsula while the president remained cautious.