WASHINGTON — President Trump called for scaling down the joint military exercises with South Korea as an overture to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, while throwing shade at Seoul for not being more helpful on Iran.
The US had already scrapped a joint amphibious landing drill that had been planned for September, but Trump’s pronouncement comes as he has sought a meeting with the North Korean tyrant later this year.
“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,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“[B]ased on the fact that it was too late to cancel, I instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises! ” he added.
“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!’”
Notably, North Korea has long had close ties to Iran, though it’s unclear how helpful Pyongyang has been to Tehran during its war with the US.
Trump met with North Korea’s brutal leader three times in person during his first administration and previously pushed to scrap the joint military exercises with South Korea that have famously alienated Pyongyang.
