KABUL (Pajhwok): US President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to “substantially” reduce planned joint military exercises with South Korea, citing Seoul’s lack of cooperation in the US war against Iran and his good relations with the North Korean leader.
According to The Associated Press, Trump said in a social media post that the exercises were costly and, in his view, sent an “inappropriate and hostile” message to North Korea.
He said North Korea had not behaved threateningly during his time in the White House and had treated him “respectfully”.
Trump added that it was too late to cancel the exercises because they were due to begin soon, and therefore ordered Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to significantly reduce their scale.
The US president also said he had recently asked South Korean President Lee Jae Myung whether South Korea would join the United States in what he called the “denuclearisation of Iran”, but Seoul had declined the request.
The report said Trump ordered the reduction on Sunday, while the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises began as scheduled on Monday and are planned to last 11 days.
It added that the US military said the exercises were aimed at strengthening military cooperation between the United States and South Korea, with forces from both countries conducting joint operations under various scenarios.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry also confirmed that the exercises began as scheduled on Monday.
Meanwhile, North Korea had described the exercises as “provocative war exercises” ahead of their start and warned of a strong response.
The US-South Korea exercises began days after North Korea resumed ballistic missile tests.
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