00:00President Trump's recent order to scale back joint military drills with South Korea, mere
00:04hours before they were set to begin, raised concerns that perhaps the most important military
00:08alliance in Asia could be at risk.
00:11The story erupted on Sunday, August 16th, when Trump revealed on Truth Social that he
00:15had instructed the Pentagon to pull back on the exercises.
00:18The commander-in-chief slammed the drills as totally inappropriate and hostile, while
00:23citing his very good relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
00:27Trump went so far as to commend the United States' historical adversary as unthreatening
00:32and respectful, while criticizing U.S. allies South Korea for their lack of support in Iran.
00:37The announcement came just hours before the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises began
00:42on August 17th, which were shortened from 11 days to 5.
00:46It's not the first time that Trump has slammed the exercises.
00:49In 2018, during his first term, he called off the, quote, very provocative drills, criticizing
00:54how expensive they were.
00:55Aside from confirming it had no advance notice of the recent move from Trump, South Korea
01:00has otherwise largely avoided confrontation on the subject.
01:03Instead, the office of South Korea's president said it hoped the friendly relationship between
01:08Trump and Kim would lead to meaningful dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea, and start
01:13discussions on promoting peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.
01:17South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, like other Korean liberal leaders, has pushed for diplomatic
01:22relations with North Korea, creating space for dialogue is central to his agenda.
01:26While speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump claimed Kim has responded to his overtures.
01:31Why hasn't, why hasn't Kim Jong-un responded to your request to have a conversation?
01:36How do you know he hasn't responded?
01:37Has he?
01:38Um, yeah, he has.
01:42Kim Yoo-jong, the influential sister of Kim Jong-un, however, denied that her brother had
01:47replied to Trump and made clear that despite Trump's actions and comments, North Korea was
01:52still wary of Washington.
01:53She said in a statement, quote, the provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won't change
01:58even though their duration and size were reduced.
02:00If the U.S. calculates that it can propagate its recent measure as the one of so-called
02:05good faith, they will not get the desired answer.
02:08Perhaps surprisingly, she also said personal relationships between her brother and Trump
02:12are still excellent, possibly indicating that North Korea would want to wait for Trump
02:17to make bigger concessions before returning to talks.
02:20While the U.S. and South Korea have historically maintained the drills are defensive in nature,
02:25Pyongyang routinely denounces them as rehearsals for invasion.
02:28The U.S.-South Korea alliance has remained among the most important in Asia for 70 years.
02:33For South Korea, the United States has been a major deterrent to attacks from their adversary
02:37to the north, with more than 28,000 American troops stationed there.
02:41For the U.S., the alliance gives it access to a critical part of the Indo-Pacific, near China
02:46and Russia, as well as North Korea.
02:48For decades, the repressive one-party state has continued to try to expand its nuclear and
02:53ballistic missile capabilities, repeatedly threatening South Korea, Japan and the United States.
02:58During Trump's first term, he and Kim Jong-un met three times, most recently in the demilitarized
03:03zone in 2019, making Trump the first and only U.S. president to step on to North Korean soil.
03:09Trump says he and Kim will be meeting once again later this year.
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