The US president said he was “not happy” with the drills, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Published August 17, 2026
US President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with close ally South Korea, citing its “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
In a social media post on Sunday, President Trump said the exercises, scheduled to begin Monday, are costly and send “totally inappropriate and hostile signals” to North Korea, adding that North Korea “has responded respectfully and without intimidation” during Trump’s time in the White House.
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“Given our very good relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, I am not satisfied with the fact that the United States long ago agreed to participate in joint military exercises with South Korea,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He also addressed South Korea’s position on the US and Israel’s war against Iran.
“I recently asked the South Korean president if they wanted to participate in the denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!'”
Trump added that he had ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “drastically scale back” the training because it was too late to cancel it.
Asked about Trump’s post, South Korea’s Ministry of Defense said the military exercises “will be notified in advance and will be conducted as scheduled.”
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise is scheduled to be held for 11 days from August 17th to 27th, and 18,000 South Korean soldiers will participate. These are a summer staple for South Korea’s military and its U.S. allies, aimed at preparing to defend against nuclear-armed North Korea, whose fighting has intensified due to Russia’s involvement in the war against Ukraine.
North Korea has always expressed anger at the drills, calling them a rehearsal for invasion.
North Korea last week condemned the drills as a provocation that would heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday that military cooperation between Japan, the United States, and South Korea is turning into a nuclear alliance, and North Korea will respond to new levels of threats with new levels of deterrence.
The next day, President Trump posted a photo of himself standing next to Kim and wrote that the two leaders got along very well, “despite his unfriendly expression in this photo.”
Trump met with Kim three times during his first term.
This is not the first time a US president has called for the cancellation of military exercises with South Korea. After his historic summit with Kim in Singapore in 2018, he called military exercises “expensive” and “provocative.”
