Surprise US vow to halt war drills

President Trump told Kim Jong-un during their Singapore summit that the United States would, at least temporarily, shelve plans for more military exercises in the region with South Korea.

Trump said later that the exercises, which the allies have carried out for decades as a show of strength, were too “provocative” and “expensive” and would be postponed.

“We will be stopping the war games, unless and until we see that the future negotiation is not going along as well as it should,” Trump said during a press conference after the summit.

“We’ll be saving a tremendous amount of money. We fly in bombers [from a US base] in Guam. I said, when I first thought it, ‘Where are the bombers from? Guam. Six-and-a-half hours,” the president said.

“That’s a long time for these big massive planes to be flying to South Korea to practice and then drop bombs all over the place. I know a lot about airplanes; it’s very expensive.”

Trump’s decision appeared to catch South Korean leaders and US military brass in the region off-guard.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s office said it needed time to analyze Trump’s comments. Seoul’s Defense Ministry has said there are no immediate plans to modify the drills, despite Pyongyang’s wrath over them.

The conservative-led opposition in South Korea denounced the move, which came on the eve of local elections.

“South Korea’s security is hanging on the edge of a cliff,” Hong Joon-pyo, the leader of the Liberty Korea party, wrote on his Facebook page.

A US Forces Korea spokeswoman told Stars and Stripes that the command had gotten no new guidance on the issue, including about the exercise known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which is slated for August.

“In coordination with our [South Korean] partners, we will continue with our current military posture until we receive updated guidance from the Department of Defense . . . and/or IndoPacific Command,” Col. Jennifer Lovett wrote in an e-mail to the military paper.