Donald Trump Says US-South Korea Military Drills to Be Reduced, Cites ‘Good Ties’ With Kim Jong Un

VoM News Desk | August 17, 2026 | 12:40 PM IST | Breaking News, Politics, World | Follow on Google News

Donald Trump Says US-South Korea Military Drills to Be Reduced, Cites ‘Good Ties’ With Kim Jong Un

Seoul, Aug 17, 2026 [VoM News]: Donald Trump announced that the United States would significantly scale down joint military exercises with South Korea. He cited his “very good relationshp” with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un as the reason, and that he found the annual drill to be a waste of time that sent the “wrong and hostile” message to Pyongyang.

Trump said it was “too late” to cancel Thursday’s 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise but that he had told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to scale it down.

But South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said drills had commenced as originally scheduled.

The annual exercise is designed to prepare South Korean and US forces to repel an invasion, and the US maintains some 28,500 troops in the country as part of the alliance.

Pyongyang, long against the annual drill, claiming it’s a prelude to invasion, has already tested two missiles this month, and has stated that it may retaliate with “a new level of deterrent.”

Trump’s statements evoke memories of the president’s summits with Kim, the last face-to-face meeting in 2019, which led to stalled talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

Analysts suggested that North Korea likely won’t see the reduction of drills as a concession unless they are completely abandoned.

The drills come amid growing military ties between North Korea and Russia, with the former providing troops and weaponry to the latter’s invasion of Ukraine, if recent intelligence from both Washington and Seoul is to be believed.

VoM News Desk

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