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The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Monday sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s order to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, calling the decision “inane” and “haphazard.”
Sen. Jack Reed, the committee’s ranking member, said Trump’s move weakened confidence in U.S. commitments to allies and handed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un what he described as a “propaganda victory.”
Trump said Sunday that he had ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce the exercises, calling them costly, “inappropriate and hostile,” and citing his “good relationship” with Kim.
He announced the decision hours before the drills were due to begin on Monday.
Trump also linked the move to South Korea’s refusal to join the U.S. in what he called the “denuclearization” of Iran.
“This is another inane, haphazard decision by President Trump and his chaotic administration,” Reed said in a statement.
“When President Trump cuts military exercises to flatter a dictator or punishes South Korea for declining to join a war he started, all of our allies—and adversaries—think that America’s commitments are negotiable.”
Reed said scaling back the exercises amounted to a “propaganda victory” for Kim and punished South Korea “for no reason beyond Trump’s ego.”
He also warned that China and Russia would be watching Washington’s treatment of its allies.
“China and Russia are watching how easily this president abandons America’s allies, and they will remember it the next time they test us,” Reed said.
The U.S. and South Korea have conducted joint military exercises since the 1950s as a deterrent against North Korean aggression and as a demonstration of military strength to other potential adversaries, Reed said.
The drills began Monday as U.S. allies in East Asia remain concerned about North Korea’s weapons capabilities and its growing alignment with Russia, alongside its longstanding relationship with China.
North Korea has not responded to Trump’s order.
Pyongyang has previously criticized the regular joint exercises conducted in South Korea.
Reed said Trump’s decision also conflicted with a recent warning from U.S. Northern Command Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Joseph Jarrard.
According to Reed, Jarrard said North Korea had successfully flight-tested intercontinental ballistic missiles with “enough boost to deliver a nuclear payload anywhere in North America.”
Reed argued that reducing the exercises despite those capabilities would send the wrong signal to both U.S. allies and potential adversaries.
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