{"id":9208,"date":"2026-08-16T23:05:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T23:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208"},"modified":"2026-08-16T23:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T23:05:51","slug":"trump-reduces-military-exercises-with-south-korea-citing-good-ties-with-kim-jong-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208","title":{"rendered":"Trump reduces military exercises with South Korea, citing good ties with Kim Jong Un"},"content":{"rendered":"

The president cited the cost of the drills and said he did not want to send a signal that is \u201ctotally inappropriate and hostile\u201d to North Korea. He also criticized South Korea for not helping with Iran.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more As the Nationals get swept, Abimelec Ortiz offers a silver lining<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
President Donald Trump. (Tasos Katopodis\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

President Donald Trump said Sunday he directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to \u201csubstantially reduce\u201d joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his \u201cvery good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social.<\/p>\n

North Korea on Friday called the upcoming U.S. military drills with South Korea a war rehearsal and threatened to take action against the countries, using rhetoric similar to what Pyongyang has said in the past to criticize the joint exercises.<\/p>\n

Trump said he opted to cut back future exercises because it was too late to cancel ones scheduled to start Monday, which the U.S. and South Korea have said will be similar in scale to those in recent years.<\/p>\n

In his Truth Social post, Trump also criticized South Korea for not helping the U.S. with its effort to denuclearize Iran. The South Korean Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

After initially trading insults with North Korea\u2019s Kim in his first term, Trump sought to forge a bond with him during a number of summits and crossed briefly into North Korea during one visit in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.<\/p>

Read more Tommy John, whose elbow surgery transformed baseball, dies at 83<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump offered to extend his trip to Asia in fall 2025 to meet with Kim again in his second term, but the two have not reconvened.<\/p>\n

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Trump told him on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in France earlier this year that it was \u201ctime to pay attention\u201d \u200bto North Korea, Reuters reported. Lee said Trump wanted to resume a dialogue with Kim, but he was frustrated over how to proceed.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Trump shared a photo of himself with Kim, where the North Korean leader was giving a stern look to a photographer as Trump appeared to give him an angry look.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the unfriendly look on this picture, there are many where we\u2019re smiling, Kim Jong Un and I get along GREAT!,\u201d Trump wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s announcement comes as the Iran war enters its sixth month, prompting <\/a>some U.S. officials to warn of a Pentagon funding crunch and extreme munition shortages. In his post, he mentioned a prior request of South Korea for help on Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, \u201cNo thanks!,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>

Read more Trump says White House needs \u2018military complex\u2019 as courts block his ballroom<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The president cited the cost of the drills and said he did not want to send a signal that is \u00ab totally inappropriate and hostile \u00bb to North Korea. He also criticized South Korea for not helping him on Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump reduces military exercises with South Korea, citing good ties with Kim Jong Un - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump reduces military exercises with South Korea, citing good ties with Kim Jong Un - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The president cited the cost of the drills and said he did not want to send a signal that is \u00ab totally inappropriate and hostile \u00bb to North Korea. He also criticized South Korea for not helping him on Iran.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-16T23:05:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/79b5c2703cfb71babed1d77f8da0a425-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1708\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Trump reduces military exercises with South Korea, citing good ties with Kim Jong Un\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-16T23:05:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208\"},\"wordCount\":552,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/73665bed7d437f9bd82b9dca5eb57869-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208\",\"name\":\"Trump reduces military exercises with South Korea, citing good ties with Kim Jong Un - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/73665bed7d437f9bd82b9dca5eb57869-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-16T23:05:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/73665bed7d437f9bd82b9dca5eb57869-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/73665bed7d437f9bd82b9dca5eb57869-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1708,\"caption\":\"WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 16: U.S. President Donald Trump waves to the press after after landing at the Ellipse near the White House on August 16, 2026 in Washington, DC. President Trump spent the weekend at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis\\\/Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9208#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump reduces military exercises with South Korea, citing good ties with Kim Jong Un\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Insider USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump reduces military exercises with South Korea, citing good ties with Kim Jong Un - Moving Insider USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump reduces military exercises with South Korea, citing good ties with Kim Jong Un - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"The president cited the cost of the drills and said he did not want to send a signal that is \u00ab totally inappropriate and hostile \u00bb to North Korea. He also criticized South Korea for not helping him on Iran.","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-08-16T23:05:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1708,"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/79b5c2703cfb71babed1d77f8da0a425-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"Trump reduces military exercises with South Korea, citing good ties with Kim Jong Un","datePublished":"2026-08-16T23:05:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208"},"wordCount":552,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/73665bed7d437f9bd82b9dca5eb57869-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208","name":"Trump reduces military exercises with South Korea, citing good ties with Kim Jong Un - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/73665bed7d437f9bd82b9dca5eb57869-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-16T23:05:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/73665bed7d437f9bd82b9dca5eb57869-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/73665bed7d437f9bd82b9dca5eb57869-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1708,"caption":"WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 16: U.S. President Donald Trump waves to the press after after landing at the Ellipse near the White House on August 16, 2026 in Washington, DC. President Trump spent the weekend at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis\/Getty Images)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9208#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump reduces military exercises with South Korea, citing good ties with Kim Jong Un"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/","name":"Moving Insider USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}