Trump Orders Drill Scaling Back Amid Improved Relations with North Korea
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Trump ordered the drills scaled back, citing his "very good" relationship with North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang routinely protests joint U.S.-South Korean exercises, framing their military cooperation as undermining stability on the Korean Peninsula.
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NBC NewsSouth Korea said Wednesday that joint military exercises currently underway with the United States were being scaled back after President Donald Trump, citing his “very good” relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, ordered that they be reduced.
VoxOver the weekend, Trump announced in a social media post that he would “substantially reduce” scheduled joint military exercises between the US and South Korea, which get underway today. The reason? His “very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea.”
Associated PressSEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean and U.S. militaries have agreed to shorten their drills at the U.S.'s request, South Korean officials said Wednesday, a move that likely reflected President Donald Trump’s hopes to reengage with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but could undermine a U.S.-South Korean defense readiness.
PBS NewsHourTrump lashes out at South Korea over its refusal to join Iran war Exercises between the American and South Korean militaries began as scheduled on Monday, even after President Trump demanded they be scaled back. Trump said the war games were unnecessarily provocative, and a challenge to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, despite recent praise of South Korea by the administration. Nick Schifrin reports.
Fox NewsIn announcing the exercise cut, Trump wrote that the drills "send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea, which he said "has been unthreatening and respectful" during his second term.
The HillJoint exercises with South Korea shortened by about half after Trump order The Pentagon and South Korean military on Wednesday confirmed major joint exercises between the two would be cut in half after President Trump ordered the reduction over the weekend. The exercise, which began on Monday and is known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, will end on Aug. 21 rather than the original date of Aug. 27,…
BBC NewsThe drill will now conclude on 21 August, rather than 27 August as planned. It comes after Donald Trump announced plans to curtail exercises with South Korea, citing his "very good" relationship with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
Washington Examiner“Regarding the reduction of US-South Korea joint military exercises suddenly announced by the US president a few days ago, we do not consider it worth commenting on and find it completely uninteresting,” she said. “Even if the duration is reduced, the aggressive nature remains unchanged.”
NPR NewsSEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's president said Tuesday a solid alliance with the United States underpins national security, after U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt order to "substantially reduce" joint military exercises left many many South Koreans baffled and concerned.
BreitbartTo date, North Korea has not responded to any of Lee’s peace overtures. President Trump hinted on Monday that Kim Jong-un has responded positively to his order to scale back the U.S.-South Korea military exercise.
New York TimesPentagon Scales Back Major Training Exercises With South Korea The move to end the military training a week earlier than scheduled comes after President Trump ordered the Defense Department to reduce joint military exercises with the key U.S. ally.
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Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, has said her brother retains good memories of Trump, but North Korea has expanded its nuclear and missile capabilities since the first summits while deepening its ties with Russia and China.
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Washington ExaminerKim Yo Jong, sister and close ally of supreme leader Kim Jong Un, did not outright deny that the dictator has spoken with Trump since the president announced annual military drills with South Korea will be scaled back. Instead, she said that she was not aware of any such communications.
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Trump, who met with Kim three times during his first term as president, has repeatedly expressed interest in resuming talks after their earlier round of diplomacy collapsed in 2019. But Kim, whose position has strengthened considerably since then, has rebuffed overtures from Trump as well as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
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Associated PressTrump and Kim met three times from 2018-2019 but their high-stakes diplomacy eventually fell apart over wrangling over a North Korean demand for extensive sanctions relief in return for limited denuclearization steps.
Washington ExaminerTrump and Kim Jong Un courted each other aggressively during his first administration, culminating in a presidential trip to the Korean border — where he became the first U.S. leader to set foot in the Hermit Kingdom. Summits between the two countries were held in 2018 and 2019, but ultimately, Pyongyang’s refusal to denuclearize destroyed the negotiations.
Fox NewsThe formal encounters made Trump the first sitting U.S. president to meet a North Korean leader, but the diplomacy ended without a denuclearization deal after negotiations collapsed over the terms of sanctions relief and North Korea’s nuclear program.
NPR NewsProspects unclear for reengagement between Trump and Kim Kim has shunned any talks with the U.S. and South Korea since his earlier high-profile diplomacy with Trump fell apart in 2019.
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Those are no longer theoretical concerns for the alliance: North Korean troops have fought alongside Russian forces and brought battlefield experience back to the peninsula.
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Washington ExaminerNorth Korean soldiers were initially expected to occupy non-frontline positions like base guards and patrols, but these personnel have become increasingly entangled with their Russian counterparts.
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Lee's presidential office on Monday expressed hopes that a "friendly relationship" between Trump and Kim would lead to "meaningful dialogue" between their countries to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula. That invited a backlash from conservatives, who criticized Lee's government for allegedly prioritizing resumption of Kim-Trump diplomacy over security concerns.
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BreitbartComplicating the political picture for Seoul is that President Lee’s left-wing government is officially in favor of improving relations with North Korea, so Lee has little objection in principle to what President Trump said, perhaps aside from his scolding about not doing enough to help with Iran.
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“Going forward, the ROK and the United States will discuss and implement various measures to achieve the objectives of the UFS exercise and maintain a robust combined defense posture,” the ministry said, using an abbreviation for South Korea’s formal name, the Republic of Korea.
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ABC News"Going forward, South Korea and the United States will discuss and implement various measures to achieve the objectives of the UFS exercise and maintain a strong combined defense posture," the statement added.
12 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 Washington Examiner “Regarding the recent news from Washington about communication between the leaders of North Korea and the United States, I am completely unaware of it, and it is likely the only matter concerning our top leadership’s foreign policy that I am unaware of,” Kim Yo Jong said, according to the Chosun Daily, a South Korean news outlet.
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02 NPR News Trump's move was apparently taken without consultations with South Korea and meant to reach out to Kim, deepening concerns about the reliability of the U.S.-South Korean alliance forged in the turmoil of the 1950-53 Korean War.
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03 ABC News This week, Pyongyang described Ulchi Freedom Shield as an "open threat" to North Korea.
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04 Associated Press This month’s drills were reportedly supposed to be held in two phases — the first part until this Friday with a focus on defensive operations in simulation of North Korean attacks and the second part until Aug. 27 to practice counteroffensive operations. North Korea is typically extremely sensitive to counteroffensive drills.
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05 New York Times Threatening Friends and Courting Enemies in Trump’s ‘Upside-Down World’ The president’s hostility to allies like Oman, Canada and South Korea, and his affection for adversaries like North Korea, may still shock some. But it comes as little surprise after a decade of upheaval.
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06 Fox News The move came just three days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio called South Korea an "indispensable partner" and said the allies had entered a "historic new era" of cooperation following Trump’s state visit to Seoul last fall.
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07 BBC News South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told a parliamentary hearing that neither South Korean nor US officials had been aware in advance about Trump's plans.
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08 Vox But there may have been another reason. Trump also wrote that “While 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, “No thanks!””
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09 NBC News The ministry also said the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, a joint war headquarters made up of the South Korean military and U.S. Forces Korea, was conducting the exercise with its wartime command posts divided between Command Post Tango, the two militaries’ main wartime command center, and Camp Humphreys, a U.S. military base south of the South Korean capital, Seoul.
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10 National Review Trump Is Choosing the Wrong Korea There’s no reason to trust Kim Jong-un over our longtime ally.
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11 Reuters South Korea minister says Trump appears to be pressuring Seoul over Iran, investment - Reuters South Korea minister says Trump appears to be pressuring Seoul over Iran, investment Reuters
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12 Breitbart The South Korean Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Seoul on Wednesday and Thursday — only a few days after President Donald Trump ordered a substantial reduction of joint military exercises with South Korea, slammed the South Korean government for refusing to help with the Iran crisis, and praised North Korea as “unthreatening and respectful.”
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