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President Donald Trump’s social media post on August 16 calling for a substantial reduction in U.S.-South Korea military exercises triggered panic across partisan lines. Instead of pointing to the high costs of the exercises and unnecessarily hostile approach towards North Korea, Trump highlighted his “very good relationship with Kim Jong Un” and chastised South Korea for refusing to join the disastrous U.S.-Israel war on Iran. Attacks came from Republicans, including North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who defended South Korea as “a solid military ally for over 70 years,” but then made the bizarre claim that reducing joint war drills frees up North Korean troops “to support Putin’s” war on Ukraine.

Democrats, naturally, piled on, attacking Trump for undermining yet another major ally to side with an authoritarian leader. Hillary Clinton, the champion of the failed policy of “strategic patience” during the Obama administration, posted: “The president is making US policy friendlier to North Korea and Russia than Canada and Oman. Are you kidding me?”

While any diplomatic overture from this administration should be viewed with skepticism — this is, after all, the same White House that condemned South Korea for declining to join its war against Iran — progressives shouldn’t miss an opportunity to take a principled position that advances peace, a reduced U.S. military footprint, and the security of the American and Korean people.

First and foremost, reducing tensions with North Korea is the right policy. Period. The United States has been at war with North Korea since the Korean War was temporarily halted in 1953 when the United States signed a ceasefire. This has meant that the United States is still technically at war with North Korea, justifying the presence of roughly 28,500 U.S. troops on dozens of U.S. military bases and installations on the Korean Peninsula. To maintain “readiness,” the U.S. and South Korean militaries regularly conduct provocative war drills involving tens of thousands of troops simulating the invasion of North Korea with the use of B-2 nuclear bombers, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and submarines. These joint military exercises are a well-known source of tension with North Korea as they have included training for “decapitation” strikes against the leadership, invasions, and preemptive strikes. Far from deterring North Korea, these exercises may do the opposite. Research suggests that these war drills tend to escalate rather than ease tensions, provoking a more threatening security environment instead of the deterrent effect they’re intended to have.

Second, Seoul has been calling for peaceful coexistence with Pyongyang and has abandoned the idea that North Korea would have to give up its nuclear program before dialogue. On July 23, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young announced South Korea’s “peace-first” approach, which aims instead at freezing North Korea’s nuclear program through a three-step process: halt the production of........

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