Newz"These exercises are not only costly... but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile," he wrote in a Truth Social post. US President Donald Trump said he was “not happy” about US participation in joint military exercises with close ally South Korea and is scaling back the drills aimed at deterring rival North Korea that start Monday.
Trump’s comments on Sunday, ahead of the annual “Ulchi Freedom Shield” exercise in South Korea, underscored his willingness to challenge long-standing military alliances, as he harked back to his negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term that failed in the goal of tackling its nuclear program. “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,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “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 continued. Trump added that it was too late to cancel the drills so he had ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” them. The exercise, which runs for 11 days, is a regular summer fixture for South Korea’s armed forces and their US allies, designed to steel them for defense against the nuclear-armed North.
Pyongyang has always been angered by the drills, decrying them as dress rehearsals for an invasion. The US stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster the country’s defenses against military threats from Pyongyang. That’s a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
American forces typically hold regular military drills with their South Korean counterparts. Trump has proved willing to challenge long-standing alliances, as he has done with NATO, criticizing Western partners for refusing to support his war against Iran, now in its sixth month and without progress on reaching a negotiated settlement. In Sunday’s post, Trump also took aim at South Korea on that count, writing: “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!'” – Battle-hardened – Experts say that North Korea has expanded its nuclear and missile ca…
President Trump said Sunday he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” the joint military exercises with South Korea. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that he’s “not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate” in these joint military exercises. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to scale back planned joint military exercises with South Korea after the Republican president said it declined to help denuclearize Iran.Trump said in a social media post that the exercises slated to begin this week are costly and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he said “has been unthreatening and respectful” while Trump has been in the White House.“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!” Trump wrote.
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