President Trump announced Sunday that he has ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, saying that the exercises are costly to the U.S. and provocative to North Korea. He also complained that South Korea refused to join U.S. efforts to “denuclearize” Iran, but this seems to be a secondary issue for Trump.
“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. 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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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! 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!’”
The 11 days of exercises involving 18,000 South Korean soldiers were designed to beef up readiness against North Korean threats. North Korea on Friday threatened unspecified stern steps against the U.S. and South Korea, describing their military drills as “a rehearsal for an aggressive war” that are triggering greater instability in the region, reported AP.
