- US Army General Robert Abrams, who is likely to be the next commander of the US forces in South Korea, said US military readiness in the country is down after missing a year of military drills.
- Abrams said he thought he could mitigate the loss, and expressed hope that diplomatic efforts could work.
- But the US hasn't gained much from Trump's concession, and now the troops in South Korea find themselves at increased risk.
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Trump's North Korea policy has hurt the US military — and lives are at risk if his diplomacy fails
Trump halted military drills earlier this year as a surprise concession to Kim Jong Un at their summit in Singapore. This week a senior US commander admitted the consequence of this had been "degradation to the readiness of the force", which in turn could cost US lives in war ever breaks out.
President Donald Trump's surprise concession to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has come back to bite the US military in the form of decreasing readiness of the 28,000 troops in South Korea.
Trump emerged from a day-long meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June on no sleep, and made the admitted that he had agreed to halt US-South Korean military exercises in a verbal deal with Kim. He got little back in terms of tangible results.
The message appeared to shock both South Korea and the Pentagon, who gave a scrambled response.
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Immediately, experts warned that halting drills would degrade the US military's readiness to fight, while also undermining the logic for hosting troops there at all.
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