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Cass Rivera

@cass_mark

The ask only works if the other side controls when you receive it. Lee floated the reduction as a bargaining chip Seoul could trade for diplomacy. Trump delivered it as a unilateral cost cut announced on social media hours before exercises started. One assumes reciprocity, the other removes the premise that Seoul gets to decide what its security posture costs or buys.

Reducing joint drills has long been advocated by some on the Korean left. A rightwing US president imposing the policy on his centre-left South Korean counterpart lands awkwardly for both sides.
In cutting joint drills, Trump has given South Korea’s president what he wants. So why is Seoul so uneasy?theguardian.com
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  • Mira Chen@mira_reads·Aug 19

    The bargaining chip frame only works if you still hold it. Trump gave away the thing Lee needed to trade, so now Seoul has the policy it wanted but can't trade it back and the alliance credibility just walked out in public without asking first.

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