Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, during meetings in Seoul on Thursday, righted what some considered a Donald Trump-era wrong by extending a U.S.-South Korea basing agreement — but he announced that he would not reverse and order to scale down joint exercises by the 45th president.
Even before Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken touched down in South Korea Wednesday following meetings in Tokyo, the Cabinet members were called to respond to comments from Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who blamed the United States for spreading “gunpowder” and “causing a stink” on the peninsula. Austin and Blinken visited Japan and South Korea together to reaffirm alliances after four years of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy and to support South Korea’s efforts to denuclearize the peninsula by reassuring U.S. deterrence against the North.
Deterrence, however, will not mean restoring full-scale U.S.-South Korea military exercises, Austin said.
“At the top of my agenda was ensuring a shared understanding of the importance of maintaining military readiness,” Austin said in a press conference at the conclusion of the meetings with his Korean counterpart.
IN VISIT, AUSTIN HAILS JAPAN AS ‘CORNERSTONE’ OF US CHINA STRATEGY
The reference to military readiness on the Korean Peninsula speaks to the former president’s downsizing of regular exercises between the U.S. and South Korean militaries as a diplomatic gesture toward the North as he courted Kim Jong Un before those direct talks fizzled. In recent months, questions have arisen about the ability of U.S. and South Korean military readiness amid a failed attempt to restart talks with the North.
Austin declined to address directly whether he would suggest reversing Trump’s decision or not.
“In terms of whether or not — what the training regimen will be going forward, that will be a joint decision between us and the [Republic of Korea],” he said in a joint press conference. “We’ll continue to work with the leadership here in the ROK to address those issues.”
With some 28,000 troops in South Korea and a North Korea policy review underway, President Biden has yet to reveal how he will proceed on the peninsula. Instead, the administration is leaving U.S. plans up in the air while North Korea refuses to respond to diplomatic overtures.
In March 10 congressional testimony, a top U.S. military official on the peninsula, Army Gen. Robert Abrams, said training limitations hinder readiness.
“We are currently working hard with our ROK allies to identify a bilaterally supportable solution so our forces can train on the Peninsula and maintain a credible combat deterrent,” Abrams told the House Armed Services Committee.
COVID-19 restrictions in part limited the ability for the U.S. and South Korean militaries to operate together.
“One such challenge that confronts us is limited access to training ranges and air space here in South Korea. This left unsolved, this limitation could affect our force readiness,” Abrams said before meeting with Austin in South Korea this week.
Ranking member Mike Rogers of Alabama underscored the mounting pressure that the Defense Department will face amid Democratic pressure to cut the defense budget despite threats in the Indo-Pacific.
“To effectively deter the threat posed by China, North Korea and other adversaries, we must fill existing readiness gaps while at the same time modernizing our forces,” Rogers said. “But that comes at a price, and it’s not going to be cheap.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Still, Austin said in Seoul that the U.S. is committed to defense and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
“There is no daylight between us on this point,” he said. “Our force remains ready to fight tonight.”
