Trump Agrees With Kim’s Opposition to US War Games

Trump says he's 'never been a fan' of military exercises

In comments to reporters on Friday, President Trump said he agrees with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in his opposition to the major US-South Korea war games, saying he’s also “never been a fan” of the war games, because “I don’t like paying for it.”

This makes some sense in that President Trump was quick to agree to halt such joint exercises in Korea during peace talks when the process began. However, there is no indication such talks have been planned.

That was apparently part of the subject of Kim Jong Un’s letter to Trump, objecting to the exercises, which North Korea sees as simulated invasions. In acknowledging Kim’s position, Trump did not indicate if he was going to make any changes to policy.

Some Pentagon officials have pushed for the resumption of such exercises, saying that the pause in such games had weakened US combat readiness in Korea. But it’s not clear why the decision was made to resume such exercises, particularly if Trump never liked the idea.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.