Mattis affirms ‘ironclad’ alliance
Secretary SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — of Defense Jim Mattis started Thursday morning ensconced in meetings with high-ranking Chinese military officials in Beijing, navigating a thin line between relationship-building and military posturing.
By the afternoon, he was standing beside his South Korean counterpart in Seoul, reaffirming a commitment to one of the closest U.S. allies amid moves to halt North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
The meetings come as military officials in Seoul and Washington wrestle with how to follow this month’s talks in Singapore between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump. Hopes of an enduring peace between the two Koreas remain riddled with suspicion of Kim’s sincerity about dismantling a decades-old nuclear program that has long been a hallmark of his family’s dynasty.
During his brief visit to Seoul, the South’s capital, Mattis said the United States would maintain current troop levels in South Korea and offered assurances the two nations’ alliance was still “ironclad” despite the recent cancellation of a massive joint military exercise. That surprise concession came during the Trump-Kim talks and left future military training in limbo in the hopes of helping advance North Korea’s denuclearization.
“The U.S. will continue to use the full range of diplomatic and military capabilities to uphold this commitment,” Mattis said of the
alliance with South Korea before his roughly hourlong meeting with Defense Minister Song Young-moo.
“The recent decision to suspend the Freedom Guardian exercise creates increased opportunity for our diplomats to negotiate, increasing prospects for a peaceful solution on the Korean Peninsula,” Mattis said.
Freedom Guardian typically involves about 70,000 U.S. and South Korean troops. Critics of the suspension of annual drills worry military readiness on the peninsula could ultimately decline if many future opportunities for joint training are lost. Still, rifts between South Korean and U.S. troops would probably take months — if not years — to appear.
With more than 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in the South, Mattis said both nations’ forces “remained united, vigilant and ready to defend against any challenge.”