U.S. Republican senator joins Democrats in criticizing Trump’s joint drill cuts

A Republican senator has joined Democrats in publicly criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's order to sharply scale back combined military exercises with South Korea.

"South Korea has been a solid military ally for over 70 years that possesses exquisite military capabilities," Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina wrote on X Monday. "Reducing joint exercises with South Korea does nothing more than free up thousands of North Korea's troops to support Putin's systematic kidnapping, torture, rape and murder of innocent Ukrainian citizens."

Trump announced the order to scale back combined military exercises with South Korea on Truth Social Sunday as the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercises were due to begin Monday. He cited his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and said South Korea had declined his request to join the United States in what he called the denuclearization of Iran.

“This is another inane, haphazard decision by President Trump and his chaotic administration,” said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “America’s alliances are built on trust and strength. 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.”

“Kim Jong-un has won a propaganda victory and South Korea, one of our strongest allies, has been punished for no reason beyond Trump’s ego. China and Russia are watching how easily this president abandons America’s allies, and they will remember it the next time they test us.”

The criticism was not confined to the Senate. Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee focused on Trump’s Iran campaign and accused him of penalizing South Korea for refusing to take part.

“Trump's war of choice in Iran is failing so badly he's now scaling back joint drills with a 70-year ally hours before they began, because South Korea wouldn't help his illegal war effort,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats wrote on X. “Our alliance with South Korea makes America safer, and Trump is undermining it.”

The criticism came from lawmakers on congressional committees that handle much of Congress's defense and foreign policy work, underscoring the attention Trump's decision is drawing on Capitol Hill.

In his Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump wrote, "Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong-un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea."

He said the exercises were costly, with much of the expense borne by the United States, and sent a signal that was "totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea, which he described as "unthreatening and respectful" during his presidency.

"Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!" Trump wrote.

UFS began Monday and runs through Aug. 27. About 18,000 South Korean troops are participating in the annual combined exercise.

BY JANG GU-SEUL [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]