South Korea is bracing for the worst as Trump scales back joint military exercises and warms to Kim Jong-un — bad news for Seoul's security and for anyone counting on the US as a steady ally.

• President Lee has told South Koreans to prepare for a worst-case scenario while still trying to keep the peace.
• Trump attacked a CNN reporter as "fake news" for asking whether he has been talking to Kim Jong-un, and CNN publicly backed its journalist.
• Korean media picked apart Trump's claims about South Korea and found them false, and ordinary Koreans are calling him a liar in blunt terms.
• Koreans keep comparing him to their own former president Yoon, who was impeached and jailed last year after trying similar tactics — and they cannot understand why the US has not removed Trump.
• The wider mood is bafflement: much of the world sees American politics as a slow-motion disaster it has no way to stop.

Outlook: Expect Seoul to hedge its own defense plans while US-South Korea trust keeps eroding.