President Donald Trump got a fresh tongue-lashing from the Wall Street Journal editorial board for his latest “act of appeasement” against North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
The president plans to significantly cut back on military exercises with South Korea — a vital part of regional security strategy to contain aggression from the Kim regime — and it comes as he continues to struggle searching for any way out of the conflict in Iran that is disrupting global energy markets.
Trump cited his ‘very good relationship’ with Mr. Kim,” noted the board, saying that he has proclaimed it is “inappropriate” to continue exercises against a country that has been “unthreatening and respectful” as long as he is president. “To the contrary, pulling back from the exercises sends a message of weakening deterrence and readiness against a regime that has a history of threats and aggression against the South. The North had protested, as usual, ahead of the routine exercises, and Mr. Trump’s order is an act of appeasement toward Mr. Kim.”
At the same time, Trump took a potshot at South Korea for not doing enough to help the U.S. contain the nuclear threat of Iran, which is likely to have a different effect than the president intends.
“This will reinforce the growing belief in Asia and Europe that the U.S. is becoming an unreliable ally,” wrote the board, and it could even result in South Korea pushing for its own nuclear program so it can deter its neighbor without the U.S. “Mr. Trump may not mean for any of this to happen, but in the wake of Mr. Trump’s uncertain trumpet on Iran, the world is wondering about U.S. staying power.”
The other winner in all this is China, the board wrote, which is “happy to see the USS George Washington leave the Pacific, as it seeks to persuade countries in the region that they can’t count on the U.S. for defense” — and could ramp up its own military threats against its neighbors.
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