Trump ordered the Pentagon to stop military exercises with South Korea to build friendship with Kim Jong-un.
The US President ordered Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth to halt joint military exercises with South Korea in order to maintain friendly relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The White House chief announced this on his social media account. He added that Washington has not forgotten that Seoul did not support US military action against Iran.
Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, I am dissatisfied that the United States long ago agreed to participate in joint military exercises with South Korea. Not only are these exercises extremely expensive, with a significant portion of the costs being paid by the United States (as usual!), but they also send a completely inappropriate and hostile signal to a country that, while Donald Trump was president, posed no threat and showed respect. Therefore, and given the fact that it is now too late to cancel them, I have instructed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to significantly reduce the scope of joint military exercises. While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would be willing to join us in the process of denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they replied, "No, thank you." Thank you for your attention to this matter.
- wrote Trump.
However, despite this, Washington and Seoul have begun the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises on the Korean Peninsula. Despite Trump's order to scale down the event, media reports indicate that they are proceeding as planned.
As a reminder, in 2018, Trump already ordered a halt to joint exercises due to their high costs following a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
It's worth noting that Donald Trump regularly claims to have developed a friendly relationship with the North Korean leader. He traditionally places responsibility for all the disagreements between the United States and North Korea on previous US presidents.
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