South Korean President Backs Trump’s North Korea Dialogue Push
South Korea’s Lee Jae-myung speaks during a press conference on removal of President Yoon Suk Yeol from office, at the party office at the National Assembly building in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. 
South Korean President Lee Jaemyung has voiced strong support for US President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back joint military exercises, describing the move as a significant step toward establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.In a post on social media platform X, Lee praised Trump’s efforts to create conditions for dialogue with North Korea, even as the United States remains heavily engaged in its conflict with Iran.“We empathize with President Trump’s will and efforts to create dialogue conditions for establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, even through the reduction of this year’s ROK-U.S. combined exercises and field training exercises,” Lee wrote. “I hope that this decision by President Trump will lead to the establishment of a stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, through building trust between the North and the U.S. and resuming dialogue.”Trump has previously stated that he has a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and does not support conducting large-scale military exercises that he said send a “totally inappropriate and hostile” signal to Pyongyang.“I do have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un … I didn’t like the fact that we’re doing these massive military exercises really against North Korea when I’m friendly with him,” Trump told reporters.North Korea has denounced military drills by the US and South Korea, saying it would continue exercising its right to self-defense to counter what it called military threats from the two countries, state media KCNA reported.
