Zürcher Nachrichten - Trump says US scaling back military drills with South Korea hours before start

Trump's comments ahead of the annual "Ulchi Freedom Shield" exercise in South Korea showed his willingness to challenge long-standing military alliances, as he recalled his negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term.

"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 on his Truth Social platform.

"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 continued.

Trump added it was too late to cancel the drills so he had ordered Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce" them.

The exercise, which runs for 11 days, is a regular summer fixture for South Korea's armed forces and their US allies, designed to steel them for defence against the nuclear-armed North.

The joint drills come as Pyongyang and Moscow have grown closer, with the North providing military support -- including ground troops -- for Russia's war against Ukraine.

South Korea's defence ministry said the joint drills had begun and would "proceed as previously notified and scheduled" when asked about Trump's post.

Pyongyang has always been angered by the drills, decrying them as dress rehearsals for an invasion.

The US stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster the country's defences against military threats from Pyongyang. That's a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Trump has proved willing to challenge long-standing alliances, as he has done with NATO, criticising Western partners for refusing to support his war against Iran.

In Sunday's post, Trump also took aim at South Korea on that count, writing: "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!'"

But the North is unlikely to take Trump's announcement with much fanfare, Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University, told AFP.

"The North will only view it as meaningful if the joint exercises are cancelled in their entirety rather than scaled back. It has little reason to see this as meaningful," he said.

"I am doubtful it will draw an immediate reaction from Kim Jong Un in that regard."

North Korea this month fired missiles on two separate occasions widely seen as a protest of the joint drills.

It also warned Friday it could respond with "a new level of deterrent" to the drills simulating battle against the nuclear-armed state.

- Battle-hardened -

Experts say that North Korea has expanded its nuclear and missile capabilities since the breakdown of Trump's negotiations with Kim, whom he last met in person in 2019.

North Korea has also deepened its ties with Russia since the Kremlin commanded the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Pyongyang has sent troops and munitions for Moscow's war in exchange for financial support, food, energy and military technology, according to analysts.

Kyiv recently said that up to 50,000 North Korean troops are due to deploy to Russia, although it has provided no evidence to back the claim or a timeframe for the deployment.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in making the claim, asked Seoul to supply air defence systems to protect against Russian missiles, a request that has gone unanswered by the South.

Last Monday, Colonel Ryan Donald, spokesman for the US and South Korean Combined Forces Command, said the Ulchi Freedom exercise would simulate combat against North Korean troops battle-hardened by deployment in the Russia-Ukraine war.

The exercise -- enlisting 18,000 South Korean troops and counterparts from US forces in the country -- will have a heightened focus on drone warfare, GPS disruption and the role of cyber attacks, he said.

South Korea's dovish President Lee Jae Myung has reversed the stance of his hawkish predecessor since taking power in June 2025, offering Pyongyang talks without preconditions and to formally end the Korean War.

But the leadership of North Korea has yet to respond to his repeated offers.

W.F.Portman--NZN