Trump Orders Major Scale-Back of Joint South Korea-U.S. Drills, Cites "Good Relationship" with Kim Jong-un

[Anchor]

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered a significant reduction in the scale of joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises. Citing his very good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the move is interpreted as sending a conciliatory signal to Pyongyang.

Reporting from Washington, this is correspondent Lee Hanseok.

[Reporter]

U.S. President Trump took to his social media to personally announce that he instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to scale back joint military drills between South Korea and the United States.

Trump expressed dissatisfaction with participating in the joint exercises, stating that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un share a very good relationship.

He added remarks that seemed to defend North Korea, stating that the drills not only cost a massive amount of money but also send an inappropriate and hostile signal to a country that does not pose a threat to the United States.

Trump's directive was abruptly made public on the very day that the South Korea-U.S. joint exercise, Ulchi Freedom Shield, kicked off.

This marks the first time since the launch of his second administration that President Trump has publicly ordered a reduction in joint drills.

It appears to be a recurrence of the precedent set during his first term in 2018, immediately following the North Korea-U.S. summit in Singapore, when he called the drills a waste of money and suspended or scaled them back.

Given that North Korea has recently strongly protested the joint exercises through successive ballistic missile launches, interpretations suggest this move to scale back the drills is an olive branch to resume dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang.

Meanwhile, President Trump also unfiltered revealed diplomatic differences with the South Korean government.

He expressed discomfort, mentioning that he had asked the South Korean president about their willingness to join efforts for Iran's denuclearization, only to be told they would decline.

President Trump's sudden directive to scale down the exercises, issued on the very day they commenced, is expected to cause considerable fallout surrounding South Korea-U.S. security cooperation and defense cost-sharing.

(Video Shooting: Park Eun-ha | Video Editing: Yu Mi-ra)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.