President Trump made a “pretty significant concession” to North Korea by agreeing to end joint military exercises with South Korea during his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, former CIA Director Michael Hayden said on Tuesday.
“The president obviously made a judgment that he needs that concession in order to keep this process moving forward,” Hayden told CNN. “But that is the only concession that was made in yesterday’s talks. The North Koreans did not come with anything new. The new element is that we agreed to stop our annual exercise cycle with our South Korean allies. That’s actually a pretty significant concession.”
Hayden also stressed that the U.S. has a “fairly light footprint” in South Korea.
“The whole defense of South Korea is based upon our ability and the South and North Koreans’ knowledge of our ability to flow forces to the peninsula quickly for the defense of South Korea,” he said. “That’s why we do the exercises. They’re about the defense of the South, and the president calling them provocative unfortunately takes the language out of the North Korean propaganda machine.”
“The North Koreans did not come with anything new,” says Fmr. CIA Dir. Michael Hayden on the Trump-Kim summit: “The new element is that we agreed to stop our annual exercise cycle with our South Koreans allies. That’s actually a pretty significant concession.” pic.twitter.com/KYEZZ3jMtZ
— New Day (@NewDay) June 12, 2018
Trump told reporters after meeting with Kim at the Capella hotel in Singapore that the U.S. would stop conducting “war games” with South Korea, calling them “provocative” and costly. The president also said North Korea agreed to destroy a missile engine testing site.
Following their meetings, Trump and Kim signed a joint declaration that outlined four points, one of which was a commitment from North Korea to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
Neither the promise from the U.S. to cease its military exercises with South Korea nor North Korea’s commitment to dismantle its missile engine testing site were included in the document.
South Korea’s presidential Blue House said it has to “find out the precise meaning or intentions” of Trump’s remarks regarding the “war games,” according to reports.
