US scales down joint military drills with South Korea after Trump order
U.S. President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea that were scheduled to begin this week, saying the drills are costly and send an inappropriate and hostile signal to North Korea.
In a social media post on Sunday, Mr. Trump said the exercises, which were planned for 11 days and involve 18,000 South Korean soldiers, could not be cancelled at such short notice. He instructed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to scale them down significantly.
“Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!” Mr. Trump wrote, using an outdated title for the defence secretary.
The exercises were designed to enhance readiness against North Korean threats. According to the U.S. military, the drills were expected to include joint precision targeting, live-fire exercises, wet gap crossings, and distribution of prepositioned military equipment.
Mr. Trump has maintained that North Korea has been “unthreatening and respectful” during his time in office. He also shared a photo of himself standing alongside North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, noting that the two leaders “get along great” despite what he called the “unfriendly look” in the picture.
This is not the first time Mr. Trump has sought to halt such exercises. In 2018, following his meeting with Mr. Kim in Singapore, he announced that the U.S. would stop war games, citing cost and the progress of negotiations.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry has previously described the U.S.-South Korean training as “a rehearsal for an aggressive war” that triggers instability in the region.
Mr. Trump met Mr. Kim three times during his first term to discuss North Korea’s nuclear programme, most recently in 2019. Since returning to office, he has expressed interest in resuming those discussions.
The decision to reduce the exercises has raised questions about the U.S. commitment to its ally South Korea, though officials have not yet detailed the extent of the reduction. Analysts note that any change to military readiness could affect the security balance on the Korean Peninsula.
