The US president does not believe the country should participate in a joint military exercise with South Korea, "based on my very good relationship with North Korea's Kim Jong-Un."
The exercise, which is set to begin on Monday, has been planned for a long time and, as Trump writes on Truth Social, "cannot be canceled."
The exercise is too expensive, he writes, but above all, it "sends signals that are totally inappropriate and hostile" towards North Korea - a country that, according to Trump, has only been respectful and not threatening "as long as Donald J Trump has been president."
He announces that he has therefore instructed Defence Minister Pete Hegseth to significantly restrict the exercise.
As recently as Saturday, Trump posted a photograph on his platform of himself posing with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, writing that the two “get along very well.”
Want to meet Kim
In the post, he also suggests that South Korea is not a good ally as the country's President Lee Jae-Myung "said no thanks" to participating in the Iran war, or what he calls "the nuclear disarmament of Iran."
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un met three times during Trump's first term in the White House, and the US president has expressed some admiration for the dictator. Last year, during a trip to Asia, he said he would like to meet Kim again.
"I know Kim Jong-Un very well ... we just couldn't get it together," he said in October last year.
A few days ago, North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile that landed in the Sea of Japan, just the latest in a series of similar tests the country has carried out this year. North Korea also this week condemned the upcoming military exercises between the United States and South Korea.
Increased cooperation with Russia
At the same time, the United States and South Korea have been close allies since the Korean War, and the United States has around 28,500 soldiers stationed in the country to strengthen the threat against North Korea.
North Korea has also increased its cooperation with Russia and, according to Ukraine, sent soldiers, missiles and ammunition to Russia to use in the war against Ukraine, in exchange for, among other things, economic support and military technology.
The rapprochement with Russia prompted the American spokesman for the US-Korean forces, Ryan Donald, to warn that the threat from North Korea has changed.
They have learned their lessons and brought the knowledge home, he warned ahead of the exercise, which is scheduled to last August 17–27.
