Trump instructs Secretary of War Hegseth to scale back joint exercises with South Korea

President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to scale back its planned joint exercises with South Korea following their declining to help the U.S. in its efforts to denuclearize Iran. 

The announcement by President Trump comes just before the start of one of two annual joint exercises, or military drills, between South Korean and U.S. troops. The 11-day exercises are meant to strengthen their readiness against North Korean threats, according to the Associated Press. 

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, in which he made it clear that it was too late to cancel the joint exercise, but that he was instructing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!”

“Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in 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! 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!” Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”