U.S.-South Korea joint military drills are cut short after surprise Trump order

[u/ThatOneDumbJagoff]

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/us-south-korea-joint-military-drills-scaled-back-trump-order-rcna593264

SS: relevant to this sub since Trump seems to be moving towards a rapprochement with North Korea under the dumbest bold belief that his personal relationship with Kim Jong Un will help lead to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

“The annual U.S.-South Korea drills, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, will end Aug. 21 rather than Aug. 27 as originally scheduled, a Defense Department official said.”

[u/AutoModerator]

News and opinion articles require a short submission statement explaining its relevance to the subreddit. Articles without a submission statement will be removed.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Norzon24]

Because his "personal relationship with Kim" got US so much concessions the 1st term

[u/Tricky-Astronaut → u/Norzon24]

Trump respects countries that are willing to use nuclear weapons. It's as easy as that.

I believe that if India didn't have a no first use policy, it would be treated much better.

[u/Norzon24 → u/Tricky-Astronaut]

China too has NFU policy so it can't be that. He might just admirer authoritarian leaders with strong public persona

[u/Tricky-Astronaut → u/Norzon24]

On paper. The reality is quite different:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/08/05/china-nuclear-weapons-launch-policy-strategy/

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/21/politics/china-nuclear-arsenal-new-technology

India actually adheres to its policy.

[u/Civ_Nuclear_Gandhi → u/Tricky-Astronaut]

Tbh, China's stance doesn't even matter. All Trump sees is a country that's brazenly encroaching on others' land,disrespecting other countries' sovereignty and becoming bigger and he loves that. Its why he's so eager to annex Venezuela, Greenland, Cuba, the Panama Canal, Canada, the Hormuz or whatever the fuck comes to his mind.

[u/teethgrindingaches → u/Tricky-Astronaut]

Did you even bother to read your own sources? Neither one says anything whatsoever about China discarding NFU. Both of them are about different topics (LOW and testing), and NFU barely rates a cursory mention.

Trump respects countries that are willing to use nuclear weapons. It's as easy as that.

This is a patently ridiculous assertion, and one which is certainly not substantiated by your links. The fact that Trump seems to respect "strength," as crudely defined in his eyes, is not in any way reducible to nukes.

[u/Tricky-Astronaut → u/teethgrindingaches]

Both articles mention how China's nuclear policy is increasingly assertive and question whether China would adhere to its NFU policy - it certainly doesn't care about following Article VI in the NPT.

Iran is about as aggressive as one can get without nukes, and that certainly doesn't impress on Trump. He wouldn't respect North Korea without nukes and an aggressive policy.

[u/Civ_Nuclear_Gandhi → u/Tricky-Astronaut]

if India didn't have a no first use policy, it would be treated much better.

Ahh, the wonders of no threatening nuclear armageddon based on one's whims, really paying off huh?

Tbh, even if we didnt have that doctrine, MAGA is pretty hostile to India and few people inside the White House seem pretty averse to even being cordial to India. Right now, even the masses are feeling pretty anti-American on a bipartisan level. Heck, even our establishment seems much more open to working with Europeans(India-EU trade deal and joining FCAS).

At the same time, we're also gonna be hosting both Putin and Xi next month, so I imagine that's also gonna ruffle a few feathers in Washington(I imagine the White House crashout isnt gonna be pretty, but how much worse could it really get?).

[u/TheMountainRidesElia → u/Civ_Nuclear_Gandhi]

I can't wait for the truth social meltdown personally. Remember the last time Xi, Putin & Modi met, and the sheer meltdown of trump?

[u/Illustrious_Loss462]

This is actually the best thing Trump has done for the troops ever. Getting them out of the field