Foreign Minister Cho Hyun answers questions about the reduction of the combined Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise at a plenary session of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun answers questions about the reduction of the combined Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise at a plenary session of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Wednesday that she learned of the reduction of the combined South Korea-US military exercise through Donald Trump's social media post.

Speaking at a plenary session of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Cho said the content Trump posted on Truth Social "was not known in advance by our government, nor by US government officials at all. So we were not notified in advance either."

On the actual scaling back of the combined exercise following Trump's announcement, Cho said she understood that "Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back had been in close consultations with the US side after the post appeared on Truth Social." She added that because the South Korean minister was involved in those discussions, she did not consider it "a unilateral notification" from the US side.

Defense Minister Ahn also told the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that "no one on either the South Korean or US government side knew the content" of what Trump had posted on social media. Ahn said that afterward, "through close consultations between myself as minister and the US side, we have continued to discuss various pending issues."

Asked how the reduction of the combined exercise might affect the government's push to transfer wartime operational control, Cho said the scaling back was "in fact done at the US side's request," and therefore she did not expect the US to use it as a reason to further delay the transfer.

Cho called reports that Trump is planning to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China in November "a shift to a new phase."

She said the government "has made every preparation to open a channel of dialogue with North Korea and intends to continue close consultations with the US side so as not to miss this opportunity."

Cho said South Korea had conveyed its position to the US but had not yet received a response, adding that it had also inquired about the specifics of any US-North Korea contacts.

Responding to concerns that the US might be pursuing talks with North Korea while sidelining Seoul, Cho said the Foreign Ministry was "immediately coordinating with relevant US agencies and making every effort to ensure the South Korea-US alliance does not weaken."

On the multilateral discussions for ending the Korean War proposed by President Lee Jae Myung in his Liberation Day address on Saturday, Cho said she believed it "will serve as an important breakthrough in inter-Korean relations."


moone@heraldcorp.com