President Trump on Sunday said he instructed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to “reduce” joint military exercises with South Korea due to his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong Un of North Korea.

Trump said he is “not happy” that the United States, long ago, agreed to 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!” Trump explained.

“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!'” he added.

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On Saturday, Trump also shared an old photo of him posing with the North Korean leader on Truth Social, repeating his claim the two “get along great”, leading to speculation he would renew his attempt to have a summit with Kim.

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Trump has previously suspended major US-South Korean military exercises in pursuit of diplomacy with Kim. After his first summit with the North Korean leader in 2018, that year’s Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise was cancelled, while other drills were suspended or scaled back. The exercises were subsequently redesigned and resumed in modified forms and names.

Last week, South Korean and US military officials said they would incorporate into the drills lessons drawn from North Korean troops’ increasing battlefield experience in Ukraine, including new drone tactics.

North Korea has deepened military ties with Russia since the two countries signed a comprehensive strategic partnership pact in June 2024, seeing Pyongyang provide troops, artillery ammunition and ballistic missiles to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

At a joint briefing, Col Ryan Donald, public affairs director for the US-led commands in South Korea, said this year’s scenario would reflect “drones, GPS disruption [and] cyber attacks”, threats he linked directly to North Korean soldiers who have deployed and fought in Ukraine as part of Pyongyang’s military support for Russia.

“The timing is striking: Trump’s directive comes one day before the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise is set to begin, involving roughly 18,000 South Korean troops alongside U.S. forces. About 28,500 American service members are stationed in South Korea,” Fox News noted.

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He has not met with Kim at all during his second term, but the two leaders met three times during his first term.

Trump previously made a comment that he wanted to suspend the military exercises in 2018 while at a summit with Kim in Singapore.

“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,” he said at the time.

North Korea reportedly fired ballistic missiles last week, which are being viewed as a protest to the upcoming joint military exercises.

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