Political parties clash over disrupted Korea-US drills — ruling camp says alliance 'sound,' opposition calls it a 'diplomatic disaster'

Political parties are trading sharp accusations over the disruption of the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise after US President Donald Trump ordered a reduction in joint Korea-US military drills and the exercise's duration was cut in half.

Hong Ki-won, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker and the ruling party's floor manager on the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, said in a YTN radio interview Wednesday that Trump's move was "unusual in that it did not go through official channels, but I think he sent a message that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wanted to hear." Hong added that Trump appeared to have "an extremely strong desire to make a North Korea-US summit happen."

However, Hong expressed concern that South Korea could be sidelined. "As the most directly interested party on the nuclear issue, it is inconceivable that we would be left out of the discussions," he said.

Asked whether Trump had expressed frustration over South Korea's sluggish investment in the United States through this move, Hong pushed back. "That is the interpretation of the American media and American experts," he said. "Overall, the Korea-US relationship and the Korea-US alliance are in very good shape."

Kim Jun-hyung, floor leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party and a former head of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, also appeared on SBS radio Wednesday and said the drill reduction "may not harm security itself, but the manner in which it was done has a rude aspect to it." He advised Seoul to hold firm, saying, "We cannot simply give America everything it wants right now. Trump will put trade negotiation cards back on the table, but we need to hold out until the midterm elections are over on Nov. 3."

Conservative opposition parties, meanwhile, sharpened their attacks, calling the episode a "diplomatic and security disaster" of the Lee Jae Myung government. Cho Yong-sul, a People Power Party spokesperson, said in a statement that "it is absolutely not a trivial matter that a joint Korea-US exercise already underway was adjusted at a single word from President Trump," adding that "the credibility of the Korea-US alliance is being shaken across the board, entangled with economic and trade issues."

Cha Ho, a Reform Party spokesperson, urged the government to "formally demand in writing from the United States a commitment not to link Korea-US joint exercises to trade and economic issues."

People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo proposed on Facebook that South Korea "begin discussions on deploying troops to the Strait of Hormuz." He said the Lee Jae Myung government had "wasted five months and allowed trust in the alliance to erode before finally waking up to reality and belatedly moving to open public debate on military contributions." Ahn said a Hormuz deployment would allow South Korea to "rebuild a powerful Korea-US alliance that goes beyond an alliance confined to exercises and responds together to real crises."