U.S. and South Korea Drills Intensify Amid North Korean Threats and Gulf Tensions
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Why this matters: The exercises, which began Monday, were designed to beef up readiness against North Korean threats. Trump said in a social media post that the exercises are not only costly but “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he said “has been unthreatening and respectful” during his time in the White House.The move is the latest example of the president appearing to turn against an ally in favor of a leader that previous administrations have cast as an adversary. South Korea on Monday expressed hopes for resumption of diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea to ease animosities on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea did not immediately respond to the announcement.
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The AtlanticEarly Sunday evening, Trump instructed the Defense Department to “substantially reduce” its participation in an annual joint military exercise with the South Koreans. He did this, he said in a post on Truth Social, in part because such activities are expensive, but worse, they are insulting to his friends in North Korea, a country that has been “unthreatening and respectful” while he’s been in office. (Trump seems unconcerned about the dozens of nuclear weapons Pyongyang is pointing at U.S. and South Korean forces—many of them developed on his watch. Just a reminder: There are roughly 28,500 American troops currently stationed in South Korea, some just a few miles from the DMZ.)
Washington Examiner“Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea,” Trump said. “I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea. These 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.”
ABC NewsU.S. ally South Korea has long faced threats from North Korea. President Donald Trump announced Sunday that had directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce" joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, citing his "very good" relationship with North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
PBS NewsHourTrump orders Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea Trump said in a social media post that the exercises slated to begin this week are costly and "send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea, which he said "has been unthreatening and respectful" while Trump has been in the White House.
Fox NewsThis is also not the first time Trump has scaled back joint exercises with South Korea. During his first term as well, following his initial Singapore summit with Kim Jong-un, he called the "war games" "provocative" and expensive.
NBC NewsPresident Donald Trump said Sunday that he has directed the Pentagon to scale down joint military exercises with South Korea, citing the country’s refusal to join the war in Iran and his “very good” relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
The Guardian USGood morning. Donald Trump has said he is scaling back joint US military drills with South Korea aimed at deterring North Korea, despite military officials from both countries warning that Kim Jong-un’s regime is learning new battlefield tactics from the Ukraine war.
The Daily WirePresident Donald Trump said Sunday he has directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and what he said was Seoul’s refusal to help the United States denuclearize Iran.
New York TimesTrump Orders Pentagon to Curtail Military Exercises With Ally South Korea In a social media post, the president scolded South Korea for not helping denuclearize Iran, and also praised North Korea and its leader.
Breitbart“Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,” Trump declared on his website, Truth Social.
Washington TimesPresident Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to scale back planned joint military exercises with South Korea, saying it declined to help denuclearize Iran and citing his good relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
BBC NewsPublished Donald Trump has said the US will "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his "very good relationship" with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un.
NPR NewsWASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to scale back annual joint military exercises with South Korea, saying the ally declined to help with the war against Iran and citing his good relationship with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
HuffPostIt’s also not the first time that Trump has sought to curtail the exercises. He suspended the exercises in 2018 as part of denuclearization talks with North Korea, BBC News reported.
The HillSouth Korea hoping for talks after Trump reduces joint military exercises South Korea is hoping to engage in talks with the Trump administration following the president’s announcement Sunday that he is ordering a reduction in U.S. troop participation in joint military exercises with soldiers in Seoul. The country’s presidential Blue House said it “hopes that the friendly relationship between the U.S. and North Korean leaders will…
USA TodaySouth Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told Reuters that military drills started on Monday as scheduled.
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South Korea and the U.S. are closely discussing practical and military contributions that can be made to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, according to South Korea’s presidential office, which said the countries have been closely coordinating over their joint military drills and readiness.
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ABC News"The South Korean government has actively participated from the outset in international discussions aimed at securing a ceasefire in Iran and restoring freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz," the ministry added.
BreitbartThe official added that Seoul is “currently discussing practical and military contribution measures with the U.S. side, taking into account various factors such as readiness on the Korean Peninsula and domestic legal procedures.”
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Democrats on Sunday intensified their demands for answers from the Trump administration over conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln as the aircraft carrier’s nearly nine-month deployment continued fueling concern over crew morale, mental health and living conditions.
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Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner, held a rare meeting with Hamas’s political chief on Sunday in Egypt, in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet on Monday with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure after rejecting the new 15-point, US-backed road map.
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Downsizing the U.S. and South Korean drills “can damage alliance coordination, slow the process of South Korea taking on greater responsibility for its own defense, and weaken deterrence against possible conflicts in Asia,” Easley said.
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The Guardian USHowever, Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, cautioned that downsizing the exercise would “slow the process of South Korea taking on greater responsibility for its own defence, and weaken deterrence against possible conflicts in Asia”.
11 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 Trump’s directive follows a turbulent week for Hegseth after the war secretary pushed back on reports of “dire conditions” aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln deployed in the Middle East.
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02 Fox News Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also warned that Pyongyang is using Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to test and refine its military hardware on active battlefields.
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03 ABC News In recent decades, the U.S. presence in South Korea has also become an important point of leverage in the strategic contest between Washington and Beijing, the latter having long served as Pyongyang's prime patron.
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04 Associated Press Welcome back. We hope you had a lovely weekend. In the news today: Trump orders the Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea; the president blames vandals for damaged grass in the same spot on the National Mall where he held his July 4 celebration; and the water level at Lake Powell hits a record low. Also, the fastest, loudest and best-dressed corgis compete at an international race.
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05 The Guardian US Democrats in Congress said the move handed Kim a propaganda win for nothing, while an ally was left paying the price for a war in the Middle East it never agreed to fight.
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06 Breitbart “To this end, we will exert necessary diplomatic efforts as a pacemaker under close South Korea-U.S. cooperation,” it assured.
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07 Washington Times The 11-day, summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises began Monday morning as scheduled, and it wasn’t known which parts of the training were being downsized.
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08 The Atlantic Last winter, Donald Trump plunged recklessly into war with Iran. The United States is now losing that conflict. Iran remains defiant, much of the world economy is more threatened now than it was six months ago, U.S. military resources are overextended, and munition stores are dangerously depleted. Trump and the United States have suffered one embarrassment after another; last week, he had to sneak away from the region on a backup plane because of a possible assassination threat from Tehran.
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09 HuffPost WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is ordering the U.S. Navy to remove the advanced system used to launch fighter jets from its newest type of aircraft carrier and return to using older steam catapults that he has long said he prefers, according to a directive issued Thursday.
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10 The Daily Wire The administration should concentrate on executing its broad trade and investment agreement with South Korea, including Seoul’s pledged $150 billion investment in shipbuilding and $200 billion in other sectors. That is real money directed toward concrete American and South Korean interests.
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11 NPR News It is also a sharp turnaround from how his administration has viewed South Korea in recent months.
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- thehill
- nbc
- guardian
- bbc
- washtimes
- huffpost
- ap
- pbs
- usatoday
- foxnews
- breitbart
- washexaminer
- nyt
- dailywire
- atlantic
- npr
- abc