Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI:President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea on August 16.
“Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Trump highlighted the expense of the exercises and suggested that it sent the wrong signal to North Korea.
The president initially wanted to pull the joint military exercises but said it was too late, so he ordered Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to scale it back.
In the same post, Trump shared frustration about how South Korean President Lee Jae Myung declined to assist the United States during the war in Iran, which started on February 28.
The exercises were expected to last 11 days and include 18,000 South Korean soldiers in preparation for a future potential threat from North Korea.
Drills had planned to include a live-fire exercise to test joint precision targeting and maneuver, a wet gap crossing, and distributing military equipment. One day before Trump revealed the scaled-back exercises, he posted an image of him standing alongside the North Korean leader when they met at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea in June 2019.
Trump met the North Korean leader three times during his first term in office
