I was wondering what was behind the exercise cut in South Korea. The media didn’t give us all the information. Shocker! The reasons are: the cut was planned before this, the US pays for most of it, and they wouldn’t help with Iran.
President Trump also noted that it unnecessarily antagonizes North Korea. The policy was all laid out in a document last year.
Watch the clip, which explains the strategy:
Original Story
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has directed Secretary Hegseth to scale down joint military exercises with South Korea. He mentioned that South Korea wouldn’t help with Iran. More importantly, he decided to favor North Korea.
Trump said the large, annual military drills sent a “signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, a country with which the U.S. has no formal diplomatic ties, but which Trump says has been “unthreatening and respectful” as long as he’s been president.
“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.
The command was set to carry out the Ulchi Freedom Shield training on Monday and would include 18,000 South Korean soldiers, the South Korean military told The Associated Press.
“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!’” Trump wrote.
North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward the sea recently.
“The warning was typical of the harsh rhetoric that North Korea often deploys ahead of major U.S.-South Korean military exercises. Experts say North Korea has often used its rivals’ drills as a pretext to ramp up testing activities to modernize weapons and promote public support for the reclusive North Korean leader.
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. In September 2025, Kim said he held “good personal memories” of Trump and suggested he could return to talks if the U.S. drops “its delusional obsession with denuclearization” of North Korea.
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 war games “provocative.”
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 war games “provocative.”
“We will be stopping the war games, 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.”
Trump’s Truth Social message:
“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.
“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!” Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”