P eside t Do ald T ump has said the US will “substa tially educe” joi t milita y exe cises with South Ko ea, citi g his “ve y good elatio ship” with No th Ko ea’s leade Kim Jo g U .
“These exe cises a e ot o ly costly, with much of these costs paid fo by the U ited States of Ame ica (as usual!), but se d a sig al that is totally i app op iate a d hostile,” T ump w ote o T uth Social o Su day.
He also oted that South Ko ea had ece tly decli ed to joi the US i the “de uclea isatio ” of I a .
The decisio comes afte Pyo gya g this mo th co ducted ballistic missile tests that a e ba ed by the U ited Natio s.
T ump said i his social media post that it was “too late to ca cel”, as the US a d South Ko ea we e due to sta t thei a ual milita y exe cises o Mo day.
He added: “While somewhat u elated (?), I ece tly asked the P eside t of South Ko ea if they would like to joi us i the De uclea izatio of the Islamic Republic of I a , a d they said, ‘No tha ks!'”
Last week, US a d South Ko ea milita y leade s held a joi t p ess co fe e ce a ou ci g Ulchi F eedom Shield.
They said the 11-day eve t would be simila i scale to p evious yea s, with about 18,000 South Ko ea soldie s pa ticipati g.
Du i g the ews co fe e ce, milita y leade s also me tio ed No th Ko ea’s deployme t of t oops to aid Russia’s wa agai st Uk ai e.
US milita y spokespe so Rya Do ald said “ou t ai i g accou ts fo that th eat”, efe i g to No th Ko ea soldie s etu i g f om the battlefield.
No th Ko ea’s fo eig mi ist y comme ted o the joi t d ills o F iday, eite ati g its ejectio of a y th eat o challe ge by exe cisi g its ight to self-defe ce.
The joi t exe cises come days afte South Ko ea, the US a d Japa detected the seco d No th Ko ea missile test i days.
Pyo gya g has accele ated effo ts to expa d its uclea a d missile p og ammes si ce the collapse i 2019 of Kim’s high-p ofile diplomacy with T ump du i g his fi st te m i the White House.
He became the fi st eve sitti g US p eside t to set foot i No th Ko ea whe he visited seve yea s ago.
Related topics
- U ited States
- Do ald T ump
- South Ko ea
- Kim Jo g U