00:00Well, this visit coincides with the DPRK launching around 10 short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea,
00:07according to South Korea's military, and President Trump's order to substantially reduce United States participation in military drills with South
00:16Korea.
00:17Aidan Foster Carter is the Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology and Modern Career at Leeds University.
00:25At one level, it's routine, but I have a feeling that in the world we live in now, nothing is
00:30exactly routine.
00:31We've had the North Koreans firing missiles, as they often do.
00:35We've had Trump suddenly at the last minute canceling, not canceling, scaling down military exercises,
00:41which were ready to go because they thought he'd defend Kim Jong-un.
00:45It's a crazy time. And so it's Wang Yi keeping up the essentially rather pragmatic relationship with South Korea
00:51that Seoul's current president, Lee Jae-myung, has been very keen to cultivate.
00:57As you say, the president perhaps adopting a more pragmatic approach towards Beijing than his predecessor, one might say.
01:06Do you think we're witnessing a genuine strategic shift in South Korean foreign policy?
01:12Yes, I actually think we are, although, of course, nobody can say it out loud.
01:16South Korea was literally founded by the United States. It succeeded military governments in 1948 and so on.
01:23They have U.S. troops there. I mean, all of that is a given.
01:27But with Trump rocking the boat, obviously anybody, I guess all U.S. allies are in this position, has to
01:34be pragmatic.
01:34North Korea has just launched, I think it's around 10 short-range ballistic missiles,
01:39despite President Trump ordering a significant reduction in United States, South Korean military exercises.
01:47What message is Pyongyang trying to send?
01:51It's a kind of delicate dance, and North Korea is going to play very hard to get.
01:55You've heard Trump already saying, I'm going to talk to Kim Jong-un later in the year.
01:59Well, that certainly hasn't been arranged, and Kim Jong-un probably needs it a lot less than Trump does, to
02:03be honest.
02:04Strange times, indeed.
02:06Seoul was reportedly caught off guard by Mr. Trump's decision to scale back the military exercises.
02:14Does that raise a bigger question about how reliable Washington now appears to South Korea and other of America's Asian
02:26allies?
02:27Yes, of course, it absolutely does.
02:29And to be clear, the entire United States government was also caught off, and military.
02:34was caught, the Pentagon was caught off guard by Trump, sort of suddenly remembering South Korea was there,
02:39suddenly remembering there were his exercises, and thinking, hey, hey, what's going on?
02:42But yes, of course, I mean, because of Trump, maybe it would be happening even without Trump,
02:47but because of Trump and his complete unpredictability and unreliability,
02:50every U.S. ally has to think, how much are these, you know, use are these promises?
02:55And now, until so, let's go.
02:55I mean, if the lot of mutta of governors are so good,
02:56try to acknowledge those simple twisties of those happen and it shoulder performance.
02:56Or maybe there's something more insignificant like this less than 200%まあ going on but not enough.
02:56So long as long as I suspect making it as long as we don't do,
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