(United States, 23rd) — A U.S. Republican congressman questioned President Trump's decision to shorten the joint military exercises with South Korea, saying that the U.S. should demonstrate more support for this long-standing Asian ally and urging Trump to restore the US-South Korea joint military exercises.
Georgia Representative McCormick said on Bloomberg's weekend program Saturday (Aug 22): "I hope this is just temporary."
He said that South Korea should "maintain a closer relationship with us (the United States)" and that its relationships with other countries "that essentially want communism" should not be closer than the US-South Korea relationship.
McCormick is a U.S. military veteran and a member of the House Armed Services Committee. He said that during his overseas service, he had worked with the Korean military.
He pointed out that enhancing cooperation with foreign allies is "very beneficial to our force projection."
McCormick said that although Trump "has much more information than I do," he is "not sure what factors influenced the decision on this military exercise."
Last week, Trump posted on social media Truth Social that he and Kim Jong-un "have a very good relationship," and therefore he was dissatisfied with the U.S. agreeing to participate in the US-South Korea joint military exercises, and ordered a substantial reduction of the joint military exercises with South Korea.
Subsequently, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that, at the request of the United States, the joint exercise "Ulchi Freedom Shield" (UFS), which started on August 17, ended early on Friday (21st), six days ahead of schedule.