Photos: The US-South Korean “war games” that Trump wants to cancel

Following his closely watched June 12 summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in Singapore, US president Donald Trump announced that he planned to cancel future military exercises between the US and South Korea, calling them “very provocative.”

The exercises have been conducted between South Korean and American troops stationed on the peninsula for decades and have showcased the military might of the two countries. The photos below, taken over the past few years, capture the varied wartime scenarios, from an amphibious assault, an airborne invasion or even trekking through the snow.

As Quartz previously reported:

When first asked by a reporter if the US would reduce its military capabilities on the Korean peninsula, Trump said, “We have right now 32,000 soldiers in South Korea. And I’d like to be able to bring them back home. But that’s not part of the equation right now.” (There are in fact 28,500 US troops in Korea.) He then added:

“We will be stopping the war games, which will save us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until we see that the future negotiation is not going along like it should.”

Promising to cancel the exercises appears to have blindsided some US and South Korean officials. It is not part of Kim and Trump’s signed agreement.