Trump's drill cuts align with Lee's goals, yet spark Seoul security fears

In the long arc of alliance politics, trust is built slowly and broken quickly — and when a superpower announces a major security decision via social media hours before joint exercises begin, without consulting the nation whose survival depends on those exercises, something more than protocol has been violated. This week, President Trump cut back joint military drills with South Korea, delivering a policy that Seoul's progressive government had quietly sought, but in a manner that left allies feeling not protected, but managed. The episode raises a question that will outlast any single adminis