Alarm in South Korea as Iran dispute with Trump shakes a 72-year alliance

Seoul, South Korea – The order arrived not through diplomatic channels but via a post on social media, just hours before the annual joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States were set to begin.US President Donald Trump, writing on his Truth Social platform, said on Monday that he was directing the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the drills, which he described as sending an “inappropriate and hostile” signal to North Korea.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Trump vows ‘tremendous’ costs for countries trading with Iranlist 2 of 4Iran’s hardline parliament raises concerns with ‘foreign infiltration’ planlist 3 of 4South Korea, US scale back annual military drills after Trump’s orderlist 4 of 4North Korea leader’s sister denies talks with ‘hostile’ USend of listHe added, pointedly, that Seoul had declined to join the US and Israel’s war on Iran.The announcement caught South Korean officials off guard, landing on a public holiday marking the country’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, and set off a scramble in Seoul and Washington, DC.The Pentagon said only that it was “actively working on executing” the president’s directive, while in Seoul, ...