Trump wants to scale back US military exercises with South Korea

US President Donald Trump wants to scale back the US's joint military exercises with South Korea. Trump instructed the Pentagon on Sunday (local time) to take appropriate steps. He justified this by saying that South Korea had refused to contribute to Iran's nuclear disarmament. Trump wrote in a social media post that the exercises planned for this week would be costly and "send a completely inappropriate and hostile signal" to North Korea. Trump wrote that he behaved “non-threateningly and respectfully” during his term in the White House.

Given his "very good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he is "not happy about the fact that the US agreed a long time ago to take part in joint military exercises with South Korea."

“For this reason, and because it is too late to cancel them, I have directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to significantly reduce joint military exercises!” the president continued. The announcement came just before the start of one of two large-scale joint military exercises that South Korean and U.S. troops hold each year. The exercise began as scheduled shortly after Trump's announcement, a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry said.

A day earlier, Trump published a photo of himself and Kim Jong-un. He wrote that the two heads of state got along great, “despite the unfriendly facial expression in this particular picture.” The North Korean Foreign Ministry described the military exercises between the US and South Korea as a "rehearsal for a war of aggression" that is triggering a new level of instability in the region.

South Korea and North Korea are officially at war

A few days earlier, North Korea had resumed its ballistic missile testing activities. Such tests are banned by the United Nations. The USA and South Korea had said that the eleven-day exercises involving 18,000 South Korean soldiers were intended to strengthen their operational readiness in the face of the threat from North Korea. At the same time, the allies emphasized again that the maneuvers were of a defensive nature. Around 28,500 US soldiers are stationed in South Korea.

South Korea and North Korea are officially still at war; the Korean War only ended with an armistice in 1953. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has been trying to achieve rapprochement with his northern neighbor since taking office last year and offered Pyongyang renewed negotiations on a peace treaty on Saturday, but North Korea has not yet responded.

In 2019, US President Trump failed to negotiate with Kim Jong-un to destroy North Korea's nuclear weapons in return for easing strict US sanctions. North Korea has also moved closer to Russia. According to observers, the country is supporting Moscow in its war against Ukraine with troops and ammunition.