Trump orders major cut to U.S.-South Korea Military drills, cites Kim Jong Un ties

Abdullateef Fowewe

United States President Donald Trump has ordered a substantial reduction in this week’s U.S.–South Korea joint military exercises, saying the drills are costly, send a “hostile” signal to North Korea, and are unnecessary given his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong Un.

In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea.”

He added, “These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful.”

Trump said it was “too late to cancel” the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield drills but directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—whom he referred to as “Secretary of War”—to “substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!”

Trump also tied the decision to Seoul’s refusal to join U.S. efforts on Iran, writing, “While somewhat unrelated?, I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!’”

The post comes against a backdrop of recent North Korean ballistic missile launches toward regional allies, even as Trump characterised Pyongyang as “unthreatening and respectful” during his presidency.