Folks, pay attention to what just happened.
Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce America’s participation in joint military exercises with South Korea just as the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises were getting underway.
These aren’t ceremonial exercises.
Ulchi Freedom Shield is one of the major annual exercises designed to make sure American and South Korean forces can operate together in a crisis and respond to a potential attack from North Korea.
This year’s exercise began today and involves roughly 18,000 South Korean troops alongside American and other allied forces.
And on the eve of those exercises, Trump ordered them substantially scaled back.
Trump has given us his reasons.
He pointed to his “very good relationship” with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. He complained about the cost. He called the exercises unnecessarily hostile and provocative. And he attacked South Korea for refusing to support his war against Iran.
Those things matter.
And we’ve seen Trump do this before.
After his 2018 summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, Trump suspended major military exercises with South Korea while attempting to negotiate with Pyongyang.
So yes, Trump’s relationship with Kim matters.
His anger toward South Korea matters.
The Iran situation matters.
A lot of things can be true at the same time.
But there’s another piece of this story.
And to understand it, stop looking at Washington for a moment.
Look at Ukraine.
Follow the battlefield
North Korea is no longer simply Russia’s diplomatic partner.
North Korea is now part of Russia’s war machine.
North Korean troops have fought alongside Russian forces. North Korea has supplied Russia with weapons and ballistic missiles being used against Ukraine.
And now President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia is preparing to receive another 30,000 to 50,000 North Korean troops.
Think about that.
Tens of thousands of additional North Korean soldiers potentially entering Russia’s war effort while Moscow continues its assault on Ukraine.
That changes the equation.
Putin needs Kim Jong Un.
He needs North Korean manpower.
He needs North Korean weapons.
And Kim, in return, is gaining something enormously valuable: money, military cooperation, technology and something you cannot buy in a laboratory — real battlefield experience for his military.
Now look again at what Trump just did.
The President of the United States ordered America’s military exercises with South Korea substantially reduced — exercises North Korea has opposed for years.
What I’m hearing about what happened behind the scenes tells a much bigger story.
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