US President Donald Trump’s announcement Tuesday that he was putting a halt to annual US-South Korean military exercises stunned not only Seoul, but Washington.
Trump's surprise, almost offhand comments, made during a news conference after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, seemingly upended decades of the US defense posture on the Korean Peninsula.
Trump added that he wants to remove the 28,500 US troops stationed in the South as a deterrent against North Korea.
"I want to bring our soldiers back home," Trump said, although he added that it's "not part of the equation right now." Then he said: "We will be stopping the war games, which will save us a tremendous amount of money unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should. But we'll be saving a tremendous amount of money. Plus, I think it's very provocative."
The remarks contradicted countless previous declarations by US political and military officials over the years that the drills are routine, defensive and absolutely critical.
Trump has now essentially adopted the standard North Korean line, calling the military exercises a "provocative" drain of money and announcing they would stop while he continues talks with Kim, whom he repeatedly praised as a solid negotiating partner.
His statement was quickly portrayed by critics as a major, unreciprocated concession to a country that only last year was threatening Seoul and Washington with nuclear war.
It also seemed to leave officials completely off guard in South Korea, where the presence of US troops has long been described as necessary to maintaining peace on the peninsula.
Seoul's presidential office told The Associated Press that it was trying to parse Trump's comments. The South Korean military seemed similarly surprised.
"At this current point, there is a need to discern the exact meaning and intent of President Trump's comments," Seoul's Defense Ministry said, adding that there have been no discussions yet with Washington on modifying drills set for August.
US forces in South Korea said it has "received no updated guidance on the execution or cessation of training exercises" and will continue to coordinate with South Korean partners and maintain the current posture until it receives an updated guidance from the Department of Defense or the Indo-Pacific Command.
At the Pentagon, officials ducked in and out of meetings to discuss what would amount to an epic shift in how the US military has been postured in South Korea for decades.
The defining motto of troops there is that they are prepared to "fight tonight," and joint drills are seen as the most integral component of that readiness.
"The Department of Defense continues to work with the White House, the interagency, and our allies and partners on the way forward following the US/(North Korea)summit," Pentagon spokesman Chris Sherwood said.
"We will provide additional information as it becomes available."
Trump's comments will be questioned by many in South Korea and beyond, with some seeing in them an effort by North Korea to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington.
North Korea regularly calls the military exercises provocative preparations for a northward invasion, and many of the scariest standoffs in recent years on the Korean Peninsula have happened when the drills were being staged.
