BS BULLETIN
- Trump ordered Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” U.S.-South Korean military exercises, citing his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong Un.
- The exercises began Monday despite Trump’s order, with roughly 18,000 South Korean troops participating.
- Seoul says it is reviewing Trump’s remarks, while South Korea’s presidential office hopes Trump’s relationship with Kim can reopen diplomacy.
President Donald Trump is making another high-stakes bet on his personal relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un — and this time it is affecting American military exercises on the Korean Peninsula.
The latest development Monday morning is that the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises are moving forward even after Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” them. Reuters reports approximately 18,000 South Korean troops are participating, while Seoul says it is reviewing the president’s comments.
South Korea’s presidential office offered a notably diplomatic response Monday, saying it hopes the relationship between Trump and Kim can ultimately help produce renewed North Korea-U.S. talks and peace on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang, meanwhile, has yet to publicly respond to Trump’s olive branch.
Trump announced his decision Sunday on Truth Social.
“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.
The president argued the exercises are expensive for American taxpayers and send what he called a “totally inappropriate and hostile” signal to a North Korea that, during his presidency, has been “unthreatening and respectful.”
Trump said outright cancellation was no longer practical. “Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!”
And then Trump threw another ingredient into an already complicated geopolitical stew: Iran. Trump said he recently asked South Korea’s president whether Seoul wanted to participate in the “Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Their answer, according to Trump? “No thanks!”
The president apparently hasn’t forgotten it. Reuters reports that Trump specifically cited Seoul’s refusal to participate in U.S. actions involving Iran alongside his concerns about the cost of the Korean exercises.
Ulchi Freedom Shield is an 11-day exercise designed to test the ability of U.S. and South Korean forces to respond to military threats from the North. American military officials describe these joint exercises as defensive and intended to improve readiness and coordination between allied forces. North Korea sees things very differently.
Just days before Trump’s announcement, Pyongyang blasted the upcoming exercises as a provocative rehearsal for war and threatened a strong response. North Korea also recently resumed ballistic missile testing, and American and South Korean officials remain concerned about the North’s expanding nuclear and missile programs.
There is another wrinkle that makes Trump’s description of North Korea as “unthreatening” particularly interesting.
U.S. and South Korean military planners have been watching North Korean forces gain real-world battlefield experience through their support of Russia’s war in Ukraine. American military officials say that experience has exposed North Korean forces to modern warfare involving drones, electronic warfare, GPS disruption and other battlefield technologies.
In other words, this isn’t exactly Switzerland. But Trump has never approached Kim Jong Un through the traditional foreign-policy playbook. Remember where this relationship started. In 2017, Trump famously branded Kim “Rocket Man,” warned that the dictator was on a “suicide mission” and told the United Nations that America could “totally destroy North Korea” if forced to defend itself or its allies.
Then Trump did something American presidents had never done. He met Kim. The two leaders held summits in Singapore and Hanoi and later met at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Trump even briefly stepped across the border into North Korea in 2019. The negotiations ultimately failed to produce North Korea’s denuclearization, and diplomacy collapsed. Pyongyang subsequently accelerated development of its nuclear arsenal. But Trump has never abandoned his belief that his personal rapport with Kim is an asset.
Just Saturday, Trump posted a photograph of himself alongside Kim and said the two men “get along great,” despite what he jokingly called the “unfriendly look” in the photograph. Now he’s putting that relationship back to work.
Analysts in South Korea are already interpreting Trump’s reduction of the exercises as a possible attempt to lure Kim back to the negotiating table. Whether Kim accepts is another question entirely.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Mediaite — Trump praises ‘unthreatening and respectful’ Kim Jong Un, urges Hegseth to scale back military exercises
- Reuters — Trump orders Pentagon to cut back military exercises with South Korea
- Associated Press — North Korea slams U.S.-South Korea military drills and threatens strong response
- Associated Press — South Korea, U.S. to begin exercises to bolster readiness against North’s threats
- Yonhap — South Korean presidential office hopes Trump-Kim friendship leads to dialogue
- U.S. Forces Korea — Ulchi Freedom Shield
