“Hostile signal”
Because of Kim Jong Un – Trump makes an announcement to South Korea
Updated on 08/17/2026 – 07:27 amReading time: 2 minutes
The USA is showing military presence in the Pacific and wants to contain China’s claims to power in the region. Now Trump is coming to meet North Korea’s rulers.
Donald Trump With reference to his “very good relationship” with North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un, wants to make an imminent joint military exercise with South Korea significantly smaller. He also made it clear that the maneuvers with the South Korean armed forces that have been common for years could be canceled altogether in the future.
He wasn’t happy about that USA had agreed to such joint exercises a long time ago, Trump wrote on the platform Truth Social. These sent a “completely inappropriate and hostile signal” to a country that – as long as he was president – posed no threat and behaved respectfully. “For this reason, and because it is too late to cancel, I have Secretary of War Pete Hegseth instructed to significantly reduce joint military exercises!”.
South Korea and the United States train together annually to consolidate common defense capability. The latest edition of the maneuver is scheduled to begin today.
Trump: We pay for most of the exercises
Just on Saturday, Trump shared a picture of himself side by side with North Korea’s ruler and emphasized the good relationship with Kim. In his latest post, he also emphasized that the military exercises are expensive and much of these costs are borne by the US. Trump also mentioned that South Korea recently rejected his request to join efforts to denuclearize Iran.
The US President has repeatedly sought contact with North Korea’s rulers in the past and met with him several times during his first term in office. At a summit in Hanoi in 2019, Kim left early after a diplomatic scandal. When Trump traveled to Asia in the fall of 2025 during his second term in office, he expressed interest in another meeting with Kim, but this has not taken place since then.
So far, the US government is sticking to its stated goal of North Korea to completely disarm nuclear. The largely isolated country is subject to far-reaching UN sanctions and additional US sanctions because of its nuclear program. According to UN Security Council resolutions, North Korea is fundamentally prohibited from firing ballistic missiles. Experts viewed the fact that there were several missile tests recently as a show of force and a sign of protest against the annual military exercises by the American and South Korean armed forces.
