President Lee Jae Myung has said he respects U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to create the conditions for dialogue with North Korea by going as far as scaling back South Korea-U.S. military exercises. Lee made the remark in a post on his X account late Wednesday, hours after the allies announced their decision to cut short the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise at Trump’s orders. Trump wrote in a social media post Sunday that he had instructed the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” joint military exercises that send a “totally inappropriate and hostile” signal to North Korea. “I feel that President Trump’s message is a big decision reflecting the serious thought he put into creating peace beyond hostility and confrontation on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee wrote. “We, who believe that the most perfect security asset is a peace regime in which there is no need to fight, share President Trump’s commitment and efforts to create the conditions for dialogue toward establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, even if that means scaling back the South Korea-U.S. combined exercises and fiel
