For America’s allies in Asia, the outcome of President Trump’s summit meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea has been decidedly mixed.
SINGAPORE — For America’s allies in Asia, the outcome of President Trump’s summit meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea has been decidedly mixed.
On the good side, they no longer have to be on alert for the imminent outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula.
But the widely anticipated Trump-Kim meeting on Tuesday left them with new anxieties. Trump’s concessions to North Korea exacerbated their fears about the United States’ long-term commitment to safeguarding the region.
Trump’s surprise declaration during a news conference after the summit that he would suspend military drills between the United States and South Korea — and that he hoped eventually to pull some 28,000 American troops off the peninsula — blindsided US allies, including South Korea itself. Even the Pentagon was caught off guard.
More broadly, Trump’s declaration raised questions about whether his outreach to the North actually signaled a US retreat from the region.
Since World War II, the United States has been a leader in East Asia, providing security assurances to allies in Japan and South Korea. But even before engaging in talks with North Korea, Trump had questioned the merits of stationing troops in the region and made it clear he thought the United States was paying too much to support them.
Suspending military drills would be a significant concession to North Korea, particularly as Trump echoed the North’s previous characterization of the exercises as “war games” and “provocative.” The fact that he appeared to make this decision without informing the Pentagon, never mind officials in Seoul or Tokyo, troubled leaders in both capitals at a time when Trump has increasingly shown his disregard for traditional US allies.
