U.S. soldiers participate in Combined Land Joint Logistics (CJLOTS) and Combat Support Area (CSSA) operations as part of a joint field exercise conducted by the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command in Pohang, July 15, 2026.
Jung Young Jae | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Sunday ordered the Pentagon to scale back planned joint military exercises with South Korea after the Republican president said he refused to help Iran denuclearize.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the exercises, scheduled to begin this week, are costly and send “totally inappropriate and hostile signals” to North Korea, adding that North Korea “has responded with respect and without intimidation” during Trump’s time in the White House.
“Therefore, based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have directed Secretary of the Army Pete Hegseth to significantly scale back joint military exercises!” Trump wrote. Trump added that he recently asked the South Korean president to join the U.S. effort to denuclearize Iran, but “they said, ‘No thanks!'”
The 11-day exercise, involving 18,000 South Korean soldiers, was aimed at strengthening preparedness against the North Korean threat.
North Korea on Friday threatened unspecified harsh measures against the United States and South Korea, calling military exercises between the two countries a “dry run for a war of aggression” that is causing further instability in the region.
The warning was typical of the harsh rhetoric North Korea often deploys ahead of large-scale military exercises between the United States and South Korea. Experts say North Korea has frequently used rival country training as a pretext to step up testing activities to expand its weapons stockpile and boost public support for leader Kim Jong Un.
According to the U.S. military, U.S. and South Korean militaries were expected to practice joint operations in complex scenarios, including live-fire training to test joint precision targeting and maneuvers, wet gap crossings, and distribution of pre-positioned military equipment.
The US military said the exercise “reinforces the alliance’s role as a linchpin of regional peace and security” and reaffirms “the United States and South Korea’s firm commitment to defending the homeland.”
President Trump met with the reclusive North Korean leader three times during his first term to discuss the country’s nuclear program, most recently in 2019. Since returning to office, President Trump has expressed interest in continuing these talks.
Trump’s announcement came a day after he posted a photo of himself standing next to North Korea’s Kim and wrote that the two leaders get along very well “despite the unfriendly expressions in this particular photo.”
This is not the first time President Trump has called for a cancellation of the exercise. During his first term, he also made a surprising announcement calling wargaming “provocative.”
“Unless and until we know that future negotiations don’t go as planned, we’re going to stop the war games. That will save us a ton of money,” Trump told reporters after meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore in 2018.
