Trump orders Pentagon to scale back military drills with South Korea
President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to scale back upcoming U.S.-South Korea military exercises, saying the drills are costly and send a hostile signal to North Korea despite his stated good relationship with Kim Jong Un. The directive came one day before the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield, which involves about 28,500 U.S. service members in Korea and roughly 18,000 South Korean troops, and follows two North Korean ballistic missile launches this month. Pyongyang called the drills a rehearsal for war, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that North Korea has been refining weapons through cooperation with Russia, raising regional security concerns.
Trump ordered a scale-back of joint drills with South Korea.
Context
The United States and South Korea run regular military drills. North Korea opposes the…
The full analysis
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- Full ContextLocked
- Affected SectorsLocked
- Stock ImpactLocked
- Economic IndicatorPotential near-term reduction in U.S.…Locked
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- Watch PointsPentagon announcement detailing which…Locked
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- Historical ParallelTrump's 2018 scale-back of joint South…Locked
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