Trump orders cuts to US-South Korea drills, citing ties with Kim Jong Un

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

0:30No bouncing between tabs. And best of all, no spreadsheets. Stop managing software and start managing your business with one unified system. Try for free today at odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com. Choiceology, an original podcast from Charles Schwab, is a show about the psychology and economics behind our decisions. Join host Katie Milkman, an award-winning behavioral scientist and author of the best-selling book, How to Change, as she shares true stories from Nobel laureates, authors, athletes and everyday people about why we make the choices we do and how to make better ones to help avoid costly mistakes.

1:08Listen to choiceology at schwab.com slash podcast or wherever you listen.

1:16This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jalil and in the early hours of Monday the 17th of August these are our main stories. Donald Trump says he's dramatically scaling back joint military exercises with South Korea saying they're too costly and threaten his very good relationship with North Korea's leader. The campaign for this year's elections in Brazil gets underway with President Lula taking on the son of his old rival Jair Bolsonaro. In football, Cameroon thrashed Malawi to win the Women's Africa Cup of Nations for the first time. Also in this podcast... It's incredibly risky.

2:00We're talking about shark species here that is a true apex predator. You wouldn't walk into the Serengeti and try and put your hand on the face of a lion. The social media influences getting bitten by sharks while chasing the perfect photo.

2:19Despite a history of tense relations between the US and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear program, back in 2018, Donald Trump became the first American president to meet the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. Our whole relationship with North Korea and the Korean peninsula is going to be a very much different situation than it has in the past. And we have developed a very special bonds. At the time, the summit was hailed as historic, but in the end, it failed to deliver on Mr. Trump's pledge to persuade North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program, even after he briefly set foot on North Korean soil a year later in a demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas.

3:05Stepping across that line was a great honor. A lot of progress has been made. A lot of friendships have been made, and this has been in particular a great friendship. We met and we liked each other from day one. And that was very important. Well, fast forward seven years and on the eve of joint US South Korean military exercises, President Trump abruptly announced that he was substantially reducing them, arguing that they're too expensive and they threaten his quote, very good relationship with Kim Jong Un. This despite warnings that North Korea has learnt new battlefield tactics from sending its soldiers to fight in Ukraine alongside Russian forces.

3:45Mr. Trump also said that South Korea had declined to join the US in, quote, the denuclearization of Iran. Well, those military drills have begun since he made that post. I heard more from our correspondent in Seoul, Jake Kwon. I think it's very unclear what prompted him to post that on social media, but it is certainly something we have heard from Mr. Trump back in 2018, right after he met with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un for the first time in Singapore. He had this bombshell announcement. He called this joint exercise with South Korea provocative, and he called it war games, and he called for suspension.

4:26And it was indeed suspended for four years, first two during his term, and then next two years during the COVID time before it was scaled back up. I think he, for him, a lot of the times when he talks about the alliance between South Korea and the United States, it is an unfair relationship where the U.S. is spending too much money and not getting enough in return. Whereas for Seoul, this exercise is very much core to the military alliance between the U.S. and South Korea. It is very much the symbol of the friendship and the alliance between the two countries. And Jake, Mr. Trump called North Korea unthreatening, but many countries are concerned not just about Pyongyang's weapons program, but also about the growing ties between Russia and North Korea, with North Korean soldiers and weaponry being sent to help Russian forces in Ukraine.

5:18Yes, and this is why, you know, many people who may be reading this post from President Trump, that this may be him trying to reach out to Kim Jong-un to get him back to the dialogue. But North Korea is right now too busy really, you know, upgrading their weapons and their tactics on the front fighting against Ukrainian. They're making, you know, billions of dollars in cash from their soldiers being sent there. And many experts are pointing out that North Korean capability of fighting war is upgrading day by day. And they're also testing their missiles and nuclear weapons. So although he's calling, you know, North Korea unthreatening, many of the experts might disagree with such view.

5:58And certainly people in Seoul may be alarmed by that statement. And people in Seoul might also be alarmed by the fact that he's criticized South Korea for not helping him deal with Iran's nuclear program. But at the same time, he doesn't seem to be bothered about North Korea's nuclear program. Yes. And, you know, I think there is some irony in that social media posting, I think Mr. Trump has discussed his frustration with Seoul. He believes that Seoul has not been investing enough money in the U.S. while profiting from what he sees as unfair trade imbalance. He has also revealed that South Korea has not been forthcoming in joining the U.S.

6:44kind of exercise as well as initiative to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. And South Korea has been kind of keeping mum about exactly what their stance is. I think the feeling in Seoul has been that they're kind of hoping that this could go away. And South Korea has always tried to maintain a good relationship with Iran. You know, I think they're predicting that someday the things will go back to normal and that Seoul will want to have a relationship with Tehran. Now, when it comes to North Korea's nuclear program, it really is unclear how much North Korea is willing to denuclearize in negotiation with President Trump.

7:22South Korea has been putting a lot of effort, a lot of time in trying to get Mr. Trump to care about Pyongyang again, after he has seemingly been consumed with issues happening in Ukraine, Venezuela, as well as Middle East. So President Lee Jae-myung in South Korea has been kind of flattering Mr. Trump, calling him peacemaker, and that South Korea will play the supporting role. But some experts has also warned that, you know, when Mr. Trump engages with Pyongyang, it may not be exactly for Seoul's benefit, even though Seoul will be hoping for a certain outcome here, maybe a peace declaration, some steps towards denuclearization with North Korea.

8:01But, you know, what Mr. Trump has been also suggesting is scaling down these exercises, or maybe even scaling down the number of troops that they have stationed in South Korea. And what, you know, some of the experts, especially those who are hoping for this outcome of denuclearized North Korea and reunification with South Korea further down the line, are worried about a scenario where President Trump offers North Korea some kind of tacit acceptance of North Korea's nuclear program. And this is something that South Korea has been quite concerned about. Jake Kwon in Seoul. Russia has intensified its missile attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, while Kyiv has ramped up its drone strikes deep inside Russian territory.

8:47This weekend was no exception. At least seven people have been killed in Russia after what officials called the largest scale attack launched by Ukraine this year. While in In Ukraine, the latest wave of Russian strikes has left at least eight people dead and dozens more wounded. The targets included a well-known book market in Kyiv. Dan Johnson reports from the Ukrainian capital. Firefighters spent hours damping down after the blaze that tore through the market stalls in the north of Kyiv. Six people were injured. Hundreds of small businesses were destroyed. Each one a livelihood built with love.

9:27In the smouldering ruins, we came across Luba with very little to salvage from her stocks of vinyl.

9:37My whole stool burned down. There are vinyl records I won't be able to replace now. It's like nurturing a child for eight years and then, bang, it disappeared just like that. Sorry, it's just very hard, so hard. Hundreds of market stalls have been destroyed. They're twisted and charred. The firefighters are still putting out pockets of flame. Russia says it was targeting military facilities around the capital, but this was a second-hand market selling books and records, posters and bric-a-brac. I know that because I was here myself exactly a week ago when there were families here just trying to find a bargain.

10:20Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian bombs in Zaporizhia destroyed a home, killing a man and a woman in their 60s, and in Kriviri, two died and 14 were wounded when a steelworks was struck.

10:35Ukraine's response has reached further into Russia, with another attack on a warehouse of the online retailer Walburys near Moscow. The Russian Ministry of Defence says it shot down more than 820 Ukrainian drones overnight, describing the attacks as the largest since the start of the year. It's been confirmed that drones made by two British companies have been fired in recent months by Ukraine at Russian oil refineries, logistics facilities and naval bases. Dan Johnson in Kiev. In Brazil, it will once again be a presidential showdown between the left-wing Lula and a right-wing Bolsonaro. The difference this year is that the 80-year-old incumbent, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, will be facing not the man he defeated four years ago, Jair Bolsonaro, but his son, Flavio Bolsonaro, who's a senator.

11:25Both men kicked off their election campaigns on Sunday in what is expected to be a tight race. Flavio Bolsonaro, whose father is currently under house arrest for an attempted coup, joined thousands of his supporters on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.

11:44Addressing the crowds, Mr Bolsonaro said he would fight crime, bring in tougher controls on state spending and remove what he called left-wing ideology from Brazilian schools. For his part, President Lula, in an address to thousands of his supporters near Sao Paulo, the city where he first rose to fame nearly 50 years ago as a union leader, insisted that Brazil needed more of his policies and denounced foreign interference. Statistics indicate that while the economy has grown under his role, many voters feel poorer. These Brazilians say they will continue to back President Lula. I think it's very important for us to be here to support him because he always champions causes that benefit us, like the minimum wage, tax issues, entrepreneurship.

12:41We have a lot to show, from health to education to culture, infrastructure, the work we do with so many sectors of society, policies for women and tackling violence.

12:54I believe the biggest challenge is the grassroots work, defending a sovereign Brazil. Of course, lifting the country out of hunger just as he has done before. Our South America correspondent, Ionee Wells, was at President Lula's campaign launch. President Lula came out onto the stage at this football stadium in the industrial city of Sao Bernardo de Campo, which is just outside of Sao Paulo, to black and white images of him here in 1979 and in the 80s, where he is a union leader-led strikes demanding better wages and conditions for workers. There were thousands of supporters here in the crowd cheering him on and much of his speech not only referenced workers and his support of them over the years but also sovereignty, the fact that he will not let anyone interfere in Brazilian affairs and I think that is undoubtedly a reference to his strong criticism of the United States, the tariffs that the U.S.

13:52has imposed on Brazil but also the U.S.'s designation of Brazilian gangs as terrorist organizations. President Lula has been pretty clear that he fears the US is going to try and interfere in Brazilian elections and Brazilian affairs more generally, something he accuses his main rival, Flavio Bolsonaro, of encouraging. Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of the former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, also launched his campaign today on Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro. He is certainly campaigning very heavily on a campaign platform saying that he will tackle crime, that he will build mega prisons in Brazil, and yes, that he will also work much more closely with the government of the United States.

14:34He was in Washington lobbying the United States to designate Brazilian gangs as terrorist organizations earlier this year, something which President Lula has been heavily critical about. It is interesting that for a domestic presidential election, this issue of sovereignty, this issue of patriotism has become such a key campaign issue. President Lula himself came out onto the stage with a huge Brazilian flag, something that for many years was a symbol, if displayed outside someone's home, that they were a supporter of Jair Bolsonaro. Now he is certainly trying to reclaim that image of patriotism, of sovereignty as part of his left-wing campaign in this election.

15:15Ioni Wells. In their request for viral videos and clicks, some social media influencers film themselves swimming close to sharks, sometimes touching them or even trying to ride them. Scientists say they're increasingly concerned about this practice. Shark attacks are rare, but in the past year at least three influencers have been bitten while trying to film themselves next to the marine predators. Will Vernon reports. Back in April, just off the coast of Brazil. We went diving with nurse sharks. Tayani Dalazan describes a dive that went badly wrong. Something that I thought was different is because they were on surface.

16:00There was a lot of them. The lawyer and social media personality recalls how, after diving off the boat, she immediately felt something grab her leg. The pressure and the pain was very strong. So it was very frightening. After several seconds, the two-meter nurse shark that bit Tayane let her go. She managed to reach the boat and was taken to hospital. Tayane posted the footage of the shark bite online, where it's since been viewed tens of millions of times. Meaning I wasn't there for social media. And if somebody wants to get close to a shark just for a photo, I think that's something that shouldn't be done.

16:46Let's go swimming with sharks! But many influencers are doing just that, and the numbers are growing. I'm seeing these videos every single week now, and it is way, way more than it ever used to be. Shark scientists like Dr Christian Parton say they're increasingly concerned about the rise in social media videos showing people swimming too close to sharks, touching or even riding them. Sharks can actually get really stressed out when you approach them. There's something in their bodies called glucocorticoids and that's a stress hormone. So when animals are stressed out by humans, those glucocorticoid levels go up in their bodies and that can lead to a weakened immune system, potentially aborting offspring that they have, but also they may die from that.

17:30Researchers at the International Shark Attack File also told us they've seen a marked increase in the last three years of people being bitten trying to get footage with sharks. In February last year, a tourist in the Caribbean had both hands bitten off while trying to get a photograph of a bull shark from the shallows, according to local authorities. Two months later, a snorkeler in Israel carrying a camera and a selfie stick was killed by sharks during a feeding frenzy. Some influencers have been filmed touching tiger sharks and even great whites. I think it's incredibly risky. We're talking about a shark species here that is a true apex predator.

18:09You wouldn't walk into the Serengeti and try and put your hand on the face of a lion. I feel like sometimes some of the criticism is just derailing the conversation. One of the best-known shark content creators is Ocean Ramsey, a 38-year-old former model who shot to fame after she was pictured swimming with one of the largest great white sharks ever seen. She often posts footage of herself touching sharks. she spoke to us from a boat in Hawaii where she runs Dive with Ocean shark tours for paying customers. My intent with all of my content has never been to gain views it's to gain protection for sharks.

18:47But many shark scientists have have criticized you haven't they for getting so close to the sharks and touching them that they say is harmful to the sharks that it causes them stress. I'm not actually harming the shark all of my work and what I share is respecting and observing from a distance. You're best known for touching the great whites and trying to ride their dorsal fins, aren't you? They're not. That's a couple seconds over multiple decades of my career. We spoke to several content creators who all denied being motivated by social media views, clicks or revenue, and insisted they were supporting conservation or attempting to change public perceptions of sharks.

19:27But the warning from experts is clear. Getting that perfect pick could come at a painful price. That report was by Will Vernon. Still to come in this podcast, the latest in a string of museum heists across Europe. Messina without Antonello is a city truly devoid of identity. These are the kind of events that seem impossible, the sort of thing one usually sees in movies. Four Renaissance paintings worth millions are stolen from an Italian museum.

20:29hands-on investing experience and build positive money habits. It's an account co-owned by you and your teen, so you can monitor and engage with the account while your teen learns how to invest and manage money. Learn more at schwab.com. Hello, Greg Jenner here. I'm the host of You're Dead to Me, the BBC comedy show that takes history seriously. Every episode, I pair up a top historian with a fantastic comedian, and we have a lovely, funny, fascinating chat about a different subject from world history. And in this new series, we're beginning with an epic voyage through the story of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

21:05And that's with Kyle Smith-Bino joining us. And then we'll be learning about Francis Galton and the racist discredited pseudoscience of eugenics with Desiree Birch. We'll meet many medieval saints in their bone boxes with Rachel Parrott. So if that sounds like your sort of thing, listen to You're Dead to Me wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Bye.

21:30This is the Global News Podcast. A 60-day deadline on the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the US and Iran in June has now passed. By now, the two countries were supposed to have sorted out a whole host of issues, including Iran's nuclear programme. But the conflict continues, albeit at a lower level. Iran says it won't resume talks with the US until its conditions are met for shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz. And the head of Iran's army has announced a bounty of$30 ,000 for every US soldier killed. Our world news correspondent, Joe Inwood, takes a look at what, if anything, the memorandum has achieved since it was signed two months ago.

22:16Surrounded by world leaders and signing with his trademark thick black pen, This was hailed by the White House as a historic breakthrough.

22:27It was the moment Donald Trump signed the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran. It was a deal they hoped would bring to an end the fighting that had raged since the 28th of February. Would begin negotiations over the thorniest of issues, most notably Iran's nuclear programme, and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, all within 60 days. Well, that day has now arrived, with few signs of progress on the surface. One of the world's most vital waterways remains mostly blocked, maritime traffic reduced to a trickle. But talks have been taking place between Iran and Oman, the other country that controls the strait, as set out in the Memorandum of Understanding.

23:12understanding. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, said a deal over the future management of the strait was close. It is possible that we will reach a result soon, but I want to emphasize that this negotiation and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz are two separate issues. One is a technical negotiation regarding the determination of the maritime route. Once this route is determined, whether the strait be reopened or not depends on the fulfillment of other conditions that the United States must adhere to. Now, exactly what those conditions are is not yet clear, but they could involve the charging of fees by Iran, something the US and Gulf states say they cannot accept.

23:53On Friday, speaking at a police training centre, President Trump said his blockade on Iran would remain, even if there was a cost. For you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember you're doing it so that a very evil country cannot have, a country really it's the number one state sponsor of terror in the world. We don't want to have them have a nuclear weapon. So what about the nuclear issue? Well, some technical discussions have taken place, but no one has suggested there have been any breakthroughs. The final and maybe most urgent aim of the memorandum was to end the fighting.

24:31Well, these are the sounds of the last 60 days. Iranian missiles being launched into the night sky. while US Central Command released images of Iranian targets being destroyed. Both sides have accused the other of violating the memorandum. At one point, Donald Trump even said it was over. But the fighting of the last two months was not at the level seen before it was signed. Taken together, it led Dr Ranj Al-Aldeen, Senior Associate Fellow for International Security at the Royal United Services Institute, to give this verdict on the Memorandum of Understanding. Certainly a partial success, a very fragile agreement with several shortcomings.