{"id":9248,"date":"2026-08-17T20:09:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T20:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248"},"modified":"2026-08-17T20:09:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T20:09:20","slug":"trump-defends-his-move-to-cut-back-u-s-south-korea-military-exercises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248","title":{"rendered":"Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
President Donald Trump has taken a markedly more conciliatory approach than his predecessors toward North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (Manuel Balce Ceneta\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

President Donald Trump doubled down on his rationale for reducing joint military exercises with South Korea, saying Monday that he was miffed at the U.S. ally for refusing to help the United States in its conflict against Iran.<\/p>

Read more Trump meets with teen lifeguard who saved child from pounding surf<\/a><\/p>\n

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

On Monday, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said his decision stemmed from a conversation he\u2019d recently had with the South Korean president, asking him \u201cto give us a little hand\u201d with defending the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018No, thanks,\u2019\u201d Trump recalled. \u201cAnd I said \u2026 we have 39,000 soldiers over there guarding you from Kim Jong Un, your next-door neighbor, and you\u2019re not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran? \u2026 I see. Well, why are we involved in helping you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said the disagreement mirrored one of his consistent gripes about U.S. allies \u2014 that Washington pays considerably to protect others but doesn\u2019t get enough in return. Trump\u2019s critics say that he is fundamentally wrong and that U.S. allies contribute significantly to the cost of bases that allow Washington to project power around the world.<\/p>

Read more 60 days after signing Iran deal, Trump stuck in quagmire as peace talks stall<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re guarding them from a country \u2026 that\u2019s costing us billions and billions of dollars to protect not only them, but other countries,\u201d Trump said of South Korea. \u201cLook at NATO. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars protecting Europe from Russia, hundreds of billions, mostly from Russia, but from other things, too. And then they say, well, they don\u2019t want to get involved with guarding the strait where they get most of their oil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Trump underscored that affinity by sharing a photograph of the two men in which Kim appeared to glare at a photographer while Trump looked at him with a stern expression.<\/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.<\/p>

Read more Commanders release Jake Moody, tap undrafted rookie Drew Stevens as kicker<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A day after attributing the decision to a good relationship with North Korea, President Donald Trump also tied the move to South Korea\u2019s refusal to help with the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises - 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=9248\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A day after attributing the decision to a good relationship with North Korea, President Donald Trump also tied the move to South Korea\u2019s refusal to help with the Strait of Hormuz.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-17T20:09:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5cf8f70b99efb60807a17388ebc46cd9-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\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=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-17T20:09:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248\"},\"wordCount\":429,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/795a11c99ef1cf559ff8b8f0235ff612-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248\",\"name\":\"Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/795a11c99ef1cf559ff8b8f0235ff612-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-17T20:09:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/795a11c99ef1cf559ff8b8f0235ff612-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/795a11c99ef1cf559ff8b8f0235ff612-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9248#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises\"}]},{\"@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 defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises - 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=9248","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"A day after attributing the decision to a good relationship with North Korea, President Donald Trump also tied the move to South Korea\u2019s refusal to help with the Strait of Hormuz.","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-08-17T20:09:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5cf8f70b99efb60807a17388ebc46cd9-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises","datePublished":"2026-08-17T20:09:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248"},"wordCount":429,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/795a11c99ef1cf559ff8b8f0235ff612-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248","name":"Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/795a11c99ef1cf559ff8b8f0235ff612-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-17T20:09:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/795a11c99ef1cf559ff8b8f0235ff612-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/795a11c99ef1cf559ff8b8f0235ff612-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9248#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises"}]},{"@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\/9248","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=9248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}