SEOUL—President Trump returned to an old playbook this weekend to break a yearslong stalemate with North Korea, ordering cuts to annual military exercises with South Korea that began Monday.
With these gains under his belt, Kim has so far spurned all of Trump’s diplomatic overtures since the president returned to the White House. U.S. allies in Asia are already under pressure from the Trump administration to shoulder a greater share of the security burden .
The annual joint exercises with South Korea, a display of Washington and Seoul’s military alliance, began without signs of any immediate cutbacks. Navy rear admiral. An Iran angle at play Donald Trump has ordered a major reduction in the annual US-South Korea military drills, a day after sharing a throwback photo with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Because of the technology and equipment he’s gotten from Russia, “Kim Jong Un is more powerful now.
The South Korean government said it was cooperating with the U.S. on the drills and hoped that the “friendly relationship” between Trump and Kim would lead to meaningful dialogue. Kim says the U.S. must accept North Korea as a nuclear state before any dialogue begins. A reduction in joint drills would lower Washington’s ability to deter China and North Korea while failing to assure allies that the U.S. is a credible partner, said Mark Montgomery, a retired U.S. “This was a mistake in 2018 and it’s a bigger mistake in 2026,” said Montgomery, who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank. He said that North Korea had been “unthreatening and respectful” and that South Korea failed to help the U.S. in its fight with Iran. South Korea said Monday that it was in discussions with the U.S. about contributing in Iran. We “get along GREAT”, the US president said at the time. Earlier reporting noted: Trump said on Monday that the military exercises were “inappropriate and hostile” and ordered US war secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” them. He said he was unhappy that the US had agreed to take part in the drills despite his “very good relationship” with Kim. Earlier reporting noted: He also brought Iran into the discussion and said South Korea declined to join US efforts aimed at the “Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
Since last year, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has suggested scaling back the joint exercises to improve the chances for engagement with North Korea. Earlier reporting noted: Trump cuts South Korea military drills after ‘GREAT’ Kim Jong Un post. Trump said in a separate post on Sunday that the joint drills with South Korea were costly and provocative—another repetition from his first term.
