WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday he had ordered the Pentagon to sharply reduce joint military drills with South Korea, citing his "very good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Disclosing the order on social media, Trump wrote he does not like such exercises as they 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 North Korea.
Trump's comments came just before the start of the two long-standing allies' Ulchi Freedom Shield military drills and a day after he posted on Truth Social a photo of himself with Kim during the U.S. president's first term, saying he and the North Korean leader get along well.
As always, North Korea has reacted sharply to the annual exercises involving about 18,000 South Korean military personnel, about the same number as last year.
The drills, scheduled to run through Aug. 27 in South Korea and featuring both field and virtual training, are designed to bolster the countries' combined defense posture and improve alliance response capabilities against regional security threats.
This year's Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises incorporate elements of modern warfare, such as countermeasures against cyber and drone attacks, with North Korea developing its military capabilities through its support for Russia's war against Ukraine.
North Korea has long denounced U.S.-South Korea regular military drills as rehearsals for an invasion, although the two allies have described them as defensive in nature.
Last week, a spokesperson for North Korea's Foreign Ministry released a statement saying that the country will respond to "a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent."
In Sunday's social media post, Trump claimed that North Korea has been "unthreatening and respectful" during his presidency and he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "substantially" scale back the latest drills, since it was too late to cancel them.
Trump also said he had recently asked South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to work with the United States on denuclearizing Iran, but South Korea had declined the request.
Trump has repeatedly said he remains open to talks with the North Korean leader. But as the U.S. war with Iran continues to drag on, he has rarely spoken about North Korea in recent months.
North Korea has long sought to be recognized as a nuclear power, while seeking the removal of economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies.
In 2018, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader when he shook Kim's hand in Singapore. At the time, they agreed to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
But a final deal failed to materialize despite two further rounds of talks between Trump and Kim in the following year, with North Korea advancing its missile and nuclear capabilities since then.
