Trump Orders US To ‘Substantially Reduce’ Joint Military Exercises, Citing ‘Unthreatening And Respectful’ Foe
President Donald Trump has ordered a sharp cutback to the long-running military drills the United States conducts alongside South Korea.
The Republican president announced the decision Sunday in a Truth Social post, directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!” Trump said the timing left no room to scrap the drills outright, writing that “it is too late to cancel.”
The exercises in question are the Ulchi Freedom Shield drills, which were scheduled to start Monday and run for 10 days, according to CNN. The Hill reported that the drills happen every year on a large scale during spring and summer to sharpen the U.S.-South Korea alliance and its readiness against regional threats.
Trump tied the order to his rapport with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and cast the drills as a needless provocation. “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,” he wrote.
Trump recounted that Seoul had turned down a request to back the U.S. effort against Tehran, 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!’”
Trump floated suspending the drills in 2018 after meeting Kim in Singapore, according to The Hill. He framed the pause as a way to spare the country a large expense.
Trump met Kim three times during that first term, including sit-downs in Singapore and Hanoi, but the two have not met since he returned to office, Newsweek reported. Analysts told the outlet that Kim’s deepening ties to Moscow and Beijing have handed him greater leverage on the world stage.
Over the weekend, Trump posted a photo of himself with the North Korean leader. “Despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture, there are many where we’re smiling, Kim Jong Un and I get along GREAT!” he wrote.
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