Korean-American Alliance in Trouble After U.S. Command Objects To Scaling Down ‘Freedom Shield’ Military Exercises

SEOUL — American and South Korean military commanders are at odds on the scope and nature of military exercises set to go on for 11 days next month. The rift between allies reflects the evolving stance of Korea’s left-leaning government, exacerbated by an American-Japanese air drill that the Koreans knew almost nothing about even as planes were taking off from an American air base south of Seoul.Spokesmen for both U.S. Forces Korea and South Korea’s ministry of national defense tell the Sun that the “Freedom Shield” war games, involving troops from all services of both countries, will go on, but they won’t be as big as usual.In recent years, American marines have landed on a beach southeast of Seoul, and American and Korean soldiers, on foot and in armored vehicles, have maneuvered through training areas below the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea while war planes zoomed in and warships maneuvered off the east coast.“We are still closely coordinating,” said a USFK spokesman, to which a South Korean spokesman said “it’s premature to comment.” He assured the Sun, however, “Freedom Shield will take place” despite the delay in announcing plans that are usually formed months in advance.“South Korean and U.S. militaries have decided to postpone announcing a date for this year’s major springtime exercise due to differences over the scale of on-field drills,” according to South Korea’s Yonhap News, blaming the American military for expressing “reluctance over the South’s proposal to minimize field training during the Freedom Shield exercise.”Both the Americans and Koreans sought to calm down what might still explode into a serious rift between allies while the South’s left-leaning president, Lee Jae-myung, persists in looking for a meeting with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un. Mr. Kim has called the South the “enemy” and has ignored pleas by both Mr. Lee and President Trump to see him in Pyongyang..A veteran of five tours in Korea, Colonel David Maxwell, now retired, said in an internet posting that “Seoul, under the Lee Jae Myung administration, proposed minimizing field training as a conciliatory signal.” The Americans “reportedly objected, citing already-arrived troops and equipment.” Americans and Koreans are believed to have patched up differences enough to compromise on the size of the drills, but there’s no escaping the questions raised about the future of the relationship. “This is alliance-signaling under strain,” said Colonel Maxwell, who served in the special forces in Korea and now is vice president of the Center for Asia-Pacific Strategy in Washington.Now in South Korea for the exercises, Colonel Maxwell said “the number one point of friction is that the alliance is not aligned on the assumptions about the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime,” a reference to North Korea’s tyrannical leadership under Kim Jong-un, grandson of the regime founder, Kim Il-sung, installed by the Soviet Union after the defeat of Japan in 1945.The differences erupted this month when American and Japanese war planes roared over the waters off the Korean peninsula and the Formosa straits between the island democracy of Taiwan and Communist China. American planes also flew near Communist China’s air defense identification zone from Osan Air Base, south of Seoul. The American commander, General Xavider Brunson, apologized in response to protests from Korea’s defense minister.

Korean-American Alliance in Trouble After U.S. Command Objects To Scaling Down ‘Freedom Shield’ Military Exercises

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