Transcript (en)

exercises conducted with ally South Korea, citing his positive relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and what he described as South Korea's lack of assistance with Iran. South Korea is an ally. What do you see as the impact of this announcement? Now, this could have some serious impacts on our relationships in the Pacific realm. South Korea is a critical ally for us. And, oh, by the way, they pay for a large portion of those exercises. They also pay for the upkeep of U.S. troops in South Korea. So the idea that we're paying for everything there is absolutely false. The other aspect of this is that the relationship that he has, that President Trump has with Kim Jong-un, is I would characterize it as ephemeral at best. and to put your stock in a relationship like that and really limit exercises when, first of all, we've paid our portion of that already. The things that we do in those exercises are critical for the joint defense, not only of South Korea and Japan, but also for defense of the United States as well. And in this particular situation, what you're seeing is the North Koreans are getting an advantage, really an unforced error on our part. And it's going to damage the relationship that we have with the South Koreans. And that's not a good thing. All right. Colonel Seth Layton, grateful for your expertise and time as always. Thank you, sir.