President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he has directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea, hours before the annual drills were scheduled to begin. Trump, posting on his Truth Social platform, said the exercises are costly, largely funded by the United States, and send a signal that is "totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea. He said it was too late to cancel the exercises outright but ordered them significantly scaled back.

Trump cited two reasons for the decision: his self-described "very good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and South Korea's refusal to join U.S. efforts to denuclearize Iran. "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. He acknowledged the Iran rationale was "somewhat unrelated" to the military exercises but raised it nonetheless. The announcement came less than 24 hours after Trump posted a 2019 photograph of himself with Kim, describing the two as great friends.

South Korea's defense ministry said Monday that the drills, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield and scheduled to run through August 27, were "proceeding as planned." The office of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said the two countries had maintained close coordination and expressed hope that the friendly relationship between Trump and Kim would lead to meaningful U.S.-North Korea dialogue. Seoul also noted it had actively participated in international discussions on a ceasefire in Iran and was consulting with Washington on potential military contributions related to the Strait of Hormuz.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises involved approximately 18,000 South Korean soldiers and about 28,500 American military personnel stationed on the peninsula. U.S. and South Korean military leaders had held a joint press conference the previous week announcing the drills, describing them as similar in scale to prior years and noting that training accounted for the threat posed by North Korean troops returning from combat in Ukraine. North Korea's foreign ministry had condemned the exercises Friday as a "rehearsal for an aggressive war" and threatened unspecified retaliation, rhetoric typical ahead of major allied drills.

Defense analysts warned the decision carries significant strategic risk. Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the exercises are essential for military readiness, and that scaling them back could damage alliance coordination, slow South Korea's assumption of greater defense responsibilities, and weaken deterrence in the region. Easley added that cost savings from downsizing the drills are marginal while diplomatic benefits with North Korea remain uncertain. Trump met with Kim three times during his first term, most recently in 2019, and has expressed interest in resuming those discussions since returning to office.