Trump Says He Ordered Significant Reduction in South Korea-US Joint Drills, Cites "Very Good Relationship" with Kim Jong-un

US President Donald Trump stated on the 16th (local time) that he has instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to significantly scale down the size of the joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States.

Writing on his social media platform Truth Social that day, President Trump said, "Given that North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un and I have a very good relationship, I have long disliked the fact that the US has agreed to participate in joint military exercises with South Korea."

He went on to say that such joint exercises are not only costly and unthreatening to the US, but also send "an inappropriate and hostile signal" to a country that has respected the United States.

He added, "Therefore, considering that it is too late to cancel them now, I have instructed Secretary Hegseth to dramatically scale down the scale of the joint drills."

President Trump's remarks came ahead of the South Korea-US joint exercise, Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS), scheduled to run from the 17th to the 27th.

President Trump also shared that he recently asked President Lee Jae-myung, "if they were willing to join in the denuclearization efforts regarding Iran, but they said, 'No thanks!'"
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.