WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, saying it declined to help denuclearize Iran and citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump said in a social media post that the exercises, set to start on Monday, 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.
Trump added that it was too late to cancel the drills, so he had ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” them.
The president said he recently asked South Korea’s president to join the US in its efforts to denuclearize Iran, “and they said, ‘No thanks!’”
When asked about Trump’s post, South Korea’s Ministry of Defense said the military exercises would “proceed as previously notified and scheduled”.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield drills, scheduled to run for 11 days from August 17 to 27, will involve 18,000 South Korean soldiers. They are a regular summer fixture for South Korea’s armed forces and their US allies, designed to prepare them for defense against the nuclear-armed North Korea, which is battle-hardened from its involvement in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
North Korea on Friday threatened unspecified stern steps against the US and South Korea, describing their military drills as a “a rehearsal for an aggressive war” that are triggering greater instability in the region.
The warning was typical of the harsh rhetoric that North Korea often deploys ahead of major US-South Korean military exercises. Experts say North Korea has often used its rivals’ drills as a pretext to ramp up testing activities to expand its weapons arsenals and promote public support for the reclusive North Korean leader.
US and South Korean forces were expected to practice joint operations in complex scenarios, including a live-fire exercise to test joint precision targeting and maneuver, a wet gap crossing, and distribution of prepositioned military equipment, according to the US military.
The US military has said the summertime exercises reinforce “the role of the alliance as the linchpin for regional peace and security” and reaffirm “the ironclad commitment between the United States and the Republic of Korea to defend their homelands.”
The joint training comes days after North Korea resumed ballistic missile testing activities that are banned by the UN.
Earlier this month, South Korea, the US and Japan detected the launch of a short-range ballistic missile from North Korea in what was the North’s first ballistic weapons testing activity since late June. The missile landed in the waters off North Korea’s east coast.
North Korea has been pushing hard to enlarge its nuclear and missile arsenals since Kim’s high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019. Experts say Kim likely believes a bigger weapons arsenal would increase his chances for wresting more concessions from the US in future negotiations.
Trump met with the North Korean leader three times during his first term to discuss the country’s nuclear program, most recently in 2019. Since returning to office, Trump has expressed interest in continuing those discussions.
Trump’s announcement came a day after he posted a photo of himself standing next to North Korea’s Kim, writing that the two leaders get along great “despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture.”
This is not the first time that Trump has sought to end the exercises. During his first term he also issued a surprise announcement that called the wargames “provocative.”
“We will be stopping the wargames, which will save us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should,” Trump told reporters after his 2018 meeting with Kim in Singapore.
Source: Saudi Gazette