The US military is so overstretched by the war on Iran that it just scaled back major exercises with its key Pacific ally. Ju-Hyun Park, organizer with Nodutdol and director of engagement at Breakthrough News, joins Rania Khalek and Zoe Alexandra from Seoul to break down why corporate media’s obsession with the Trump–Kim Jong Un “relationship" is a smokescreen for what actually happened this week on the Korean Peninsula: a US military strained by Iran forced Ulchi Freedom Shield to be scaled back at the last minute. They say Washington has no one to blame but itself for the current nuclear standoff with North Korea (DPRK): three decades of Pyongyang offering to negotiate denuclearization in exchange for an end to constant hostility — only to face greater demands from the US. Meanwhile, South Korea’s President Lee Jae-Myung continues to stall on Trump’s $350 billion investment demand — even as the country was handed naval command at RIMPAC last month, deepening its role as a US military proxy. The Korean War never ended: with nearly 30,000 US troops and 80 military bases still occupying the peninsula, Korean communities erased to expand the Pentagon’s footprint, and decades of American soldiers facing zero legal accountability for crimes against Korean civilians, Park argues Americans across the political spectrum have been conditioned to see this as US benevolence rather than what it actually is: colonial occupation. “Just as people around the world have taken it upon themselves to learn and understand the realities of Palestine, I think the same can happen for the situation in Korea.” Watch full episodes of BT Live, join breakthroughnews.org as a member today! #breakthroughnews

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