--- title: Trump Stops Korea Military Exercises. But Why Do They Exist? description: In North Korea, Trump said he'll suspend joint military exercises with South Korea. The U.S. has only agreed to suspend them once before. canonical: https://time.com/5309792/south-korea-military-exercise-history/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-12T17:36:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:32:51.673Z article:section: History og:title: Trump Stops Korea Military Exercises. But Why Do They Exist? og:description: The U.S. has only agreed to suspend military exercises with South Korea once before og:url: https://time.com/5309792/south-korea-military-exercise-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt198bc85ff0a01845/698932e00a4a2231ae9d2f25/gettyimages-971886374.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-SINGAPORE-US-NKOREA-DIPLOMACY-SUMMIT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Stops Korea Military Exercises. But Why Do They Exist? twitter:description: The U.S. has only agreed to suspend military exercises with South Korea once before twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt198bc85ff0a01845/698932e00a4a2231ae9d2f25/gettyimages-971886374.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says He'll Stop Joint Military Exercises With South Korea. Here's Why U.S. Troops Are There in the First Place  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jun 12, 2018 5:36 PM CUT  North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump after taking part in a signing ceremony at the end of their historic U.S.-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018. North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump after taking part in a signing ceremony at the end of their historic U.S.-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.Anthony Wallace/AFP—Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jun 12, 2018 5:36 PM CUT President Donald Trump made history on Tuesday when he became the first U.S. President to meet with a North Korean dictator for [denuclearization](http://time.com/5309427/trump-kim-joint-document-denuclearization/ "undefined") talks. But, though his meeting on Singapore’s Sentosa Island was with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korea also played a large part in what happened. As TIME has reported, the U.S. made [perhaps the most significant concession](http://time.com/5309556/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-north-korea-summit-reality/ "undefined") at the summit by agreeing to stop joint military exercises with South Korea. Trump said stopping “provocative”[ “war games”](http://time.com/5309515/trump-kim-summit-south-korea-end-military-exercises/ "undefined") would save money. But the joint exercises, which the U.S. has [described](http://time.com/5047204/south-korea-united-states-military-exercise-drill-air-force/ "undefined") as a security and peacekeeping measure, have long been a sticking point; North Korea, which views the exercises as practice for an invasion, had [threatened](http://time.com/5278314/north-korea-summit-military-exercises/ "undefined") to cancel the summit over them. But why were those military exercises taking place at all, and how did nearly[ 29,000](https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-troops-in-south-korea-emerge-as-potential-bargaining-chip-1525625173 "undefined") U.S. troops end up in South Korea? American troops have been in South Korea since the Korean War, which [began in 1950](http://time.com/3915803/korean-war-1950-history/ "undefined") when North Korean forces crossed the line that had been drawn to [separate the two nations](http://time.com/5164622/2018-winter-olympics-korean-history/ "undefined") after World War II. When open hostilities ended in 1953 — North and South Korea are still [technically at war](http://time.com/5253054/north-korea-south-korea-war-history/ "undefined") — the support forces of both sides’ allies remained on the ground. By the late 1950s, about[ 60,000](https://books.google.com/books?id=SDb3PSD%5F%5FKwC&pg=PA230&lpg=PA230&dq=richard+nixon+60,000+u.s.+troops+south+korea&source=bl&ots=kDYoJ2CdfG&sig=riybjGGShFgcbOgfv9bEQ2FTMSo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7nNzFvM7bAhWKCnwKHZgkBh4Q6AEITTAG#v=onepage&q=richard%20nixon%2060%2C000%20u.s.%20troops%20south%20korea&f=false "undefined") U.S. troops were stationed in South Korea. Meanwhile, there were were 400,000 Chinese soldiers in North Korea, says Charles K. Armstrong, a Korean Studies specialist at Columbia University, but they were kicked out in 1958\. There haven’t been foreign forces in the North since. “Both sides thought South Korea was too poor and weak to defend itself,” says Armstrong. “North Korea was arguably militarily stronger and the economy recovered more quickly, so South Korea felt very vulnerable for many years after the Korean War. The economy of South Korea didn’t pass the North until the early ’70s.” That’s when the regular joint military exercises started — [in the ’70s](http://www.usfk.mil/About/Combined-Forces-Command/ "undefined") — and the U.S. has only agreed to [suspend](http://time.com/5253054/north-korea-south-korea-war-history/ "undefined") them once before, in 1992\. That was enough to get North Korea to agree to denuclearization at that time, though it became apparent that the nation’s actions didn’t match its words. “Right after that, the U.S. said it had strong evidence that North Korea was developing nuclear weapons and then they went back to having the exercises and they continued ever since,” says Armstrong. “It does seem like a bit of an anachronism now that South Korea is so much stronger than the North in every way, except having nuclear weapons.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5309792/south-korea-military-exercise-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5309792/south-korea-military-exercise-history/"},"headline":"President Trump Says He'll Stop Joint Military Exercises With South Korea. 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