President Donald Trump said on August 25 that, based on his good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, he was unhappy with the U.S. agreement to participate in joint military exercises with South Korea and has ordered a substantial reduction in these drills.
In a post on social media, Trump stated: "Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I was not happy with the fact that the United States had, 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." He added that he instructed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!"
Separately, Trump revealed that he recently asked the President of South Korea whether they would join the U.S. in denuclearizing the Islamic Republic of Iran, and received the response: "No thanks!" He thanked the public for their attention to the matter.
