Trump Cuts South Korea Drills Over Iran Snub
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- Trump announced the US will "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea, calling them "costly" with most costs paid by the US and a signal "totally inappropriate and hostile."
- Trump credited his "very good relationship" with Kim Jong Un and said South Korea declined to join the US in "denuclearising" Iran — he asked the South Korean president and was told "No thanks!"
- Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises were set to begin Monday with about 18,000 South Korean soldiers in an 11-day event similar in scale to previous years, though Trump conceded it was "too late to cancel."
- US military spokesperson Ryan Donald said the training accounts for North Korean soldiers returning from fighting in Russia's war against Ukraine.
- North Korea conducted ballistic missile tests this month that are banned by the UN, with South Korea, the US, and Japan detecting the second test in days, and Pyongyang's foreign ministry rejecting the drills as a threat.
Why it matters: Trump is publicly downgrading a key US–South Korea alliance exercise to court Kim Jong Un and to punish Seoul for refusing to back his Iran campaign. But his own Truth Social post admitted it was "too late to cancel" this year's Ulchi Freedom Shield — meaning the 18,000-troop drill proceeds Monday regardless, and the gesture lands on next year's program, not this one.
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