Trump Orders Reduction in US-South Korea Military Exercises Amid Tensions with North Korea

US President Donald Trump has dealt a major blow to South Korea, ordering the Pentagon on Sunday to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea. He said South Korea had refused to help denuclearize Iran. He said the joint drills could be viewed as hostile by a "non-threatening" and "respectful" North Korea. Trump said he had recently asked South Korea's president to join US efforts to denuclearize Iran. "And he said, no, thank you!" The drills, which begin this week, are not only costly, but also send a totally inappropriate and hostile signal to North Korea. North Korea's behavior during his tenure has been non-threatening and respectful. However, it is too late to cancel them now, so I have directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to substantially scale back the joint military exercises. "This is the latest step that the South Korean leader is taking with his allies, rather than the 18,000 troops that were on the side of the enemy," he said.